The World Bank has slightly improved its economic growth forecast for Romania. It estimates an increase of 5.1% for 2018, up 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous projections from January 2018, according to the Global Economic Prospects report.

The institution expects the Romanian economy to slow down in the next to years, estimating a growth of 4.5% in 2019 (up 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous estimation), and of 4.1% for 2020 (up 0.6 percentage points).

The Romanian economy increased by 4% in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017, in gross terms, according to the flash estimate published in mid May by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). It thus increased at a slower pace than in the fourth quarter of 2017, when the economy went up by 6.7%.

In 2017, Romania’s economy increased by 6.9%. Industry had a share of 24.2% in the GDP, followed by the trade sector (18.6%) and the public sector (11.8%).

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com