Romania's economy advances 5.7pct in Q1 2017

Romania's Q1 2017 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) advanced 5.7 percent in unadjusted terms and 5.6 percent in terms adjusted for seasonality, both against the same quarter of 2016, according to flash estimates released by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The Q1 2017 GDP was 1.7 percent higher in real terms than the Q4 2016 GDP.

INS says the seasonally adjusted series of quarterly Gross Domestic Product was readjusted as a result of the introduction of the estimates for Q1 2017, the revision being insignificant as compared to the version published on April 7, 2017.

"As a result of the revision of the unadjusted series by including the estimates for Q1 2017 in the quarterly series, the seasonally adjusted series were re-estimated, the volume indices being revised as compared to the version published on April 7, 2017 as following: the results for the first quarter of 2016, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, had been revised from 101.3 percent to 101.1 percent; the results for the second quarter of 2016, as compared to the previous quarter, had not changed; the results for the third quarter of 2016, as compared to the first quarter of 2016, had been revised from 100.5 percent to 100.7 percent; the results for the fourth quarter of 2016, as compared to the previous quarter, had been revised from 101.4 percent to 101.5 percent," says INS.

At a May 5 monetary policy meeting, the Administration Board of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) said available statistics indicate a slight slowdown in Romania's Q1 2017 GDP.

On May 10, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said Romania's economy should advance 4 percent in 2017, up from the bank's 3.7-percent forecast last November.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upwardly adjusted, from 3.8 percent to 4.2 percent, its estimates of Romania's economic growth in 2017, according to IMF's latest "World Economic Outlook" published this April.