News broke today of more reductions in GDP growth predictions for Romania, this time from the government's official estimates. The latest figure for 2012 growth is 0.2 percent, still an estimate at this point, but far below the 0.7 percent prediction from before the December elections, according to local news reports.

As well as reducing the 2012 estimate, the government has lowered its expectations for 2013 to 1.6 percent after recent talks with the International Monetary Fund. The new figure for 2013 follows similar predictions for Romania from a variety of organizations and commentators. Late last week, the World Bank also issued a 1.6 percent economic growth figure for Romania this year and the fund manager of the Fondul Proprietatea has predicted growth of over 1 percent.

The government's estimates for 2013 growth have already fallen twice in the space of a month, from 2 percent to 1.8 percent and now down further to 1.6 percent. The prediction for average growth over the next three years has also been revised down, from 3 percent to 2.2 percent.

editor@romania-insider.com