Romania's Statistics Institute INS confirmed the country's entry into recession during the first quarter of the year, when the economy dropped by 0.1 percent on the last quarter of 2011. The drop was limited by the 4 percent growth in agriculture and the 2.2 percent growth in IT&C. The economy is deemed in recession as the GDP shrunk quarter-on-quarter for the second time in a row.

Romania's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was of EUR 32.6 billion in the first quarter in current prices.

Agriculture, forestry and fishery were the areas with the biggest growth in activity, some 4 percent, followed by IT&C, with 2.2 percent, and cultural and entertainment activities and household items repair, with a 1.4 percent increase.

Major drops in activity were recorded in public administration and defense, social insurances in the public system, education, health and social assistance, which recorded a drop of 4.3 percent. Hotels and restaurants were down 0.3 percent, real estate deals by 1.4 percent, while financial brokerage was down 1.2 percent.

The country saw higher revenues from taxes, due to the 4.2 percent growth in the tax collected for the state budget.

Romania was previously in a technical recession between 2008 and 2011, for two and a half years .

The country's GDP was up 2.5 percent last year, also supported by agriculture, which was up 11.3 percent, and industry, up 5 percent. Estimations point to 1.5 percent economic growth this year.

editor@romania-insider.com