Economic indicators
,The National Statistics Institute has recently announced that in the second quarter of the year, Romania’s GDP registered a slight increase of 0.3%, as compared to the first quarter,
31 August 2010, 17:06
According to the same data, between January and July 2010, revenues went up by 1.2%, especially due to the collection of VAT and excises, while general expenditure increased by 3.2%.
Personnel expenses went down by 4.7% and, goods and services expenditure also diminished by 2.2% as compared to the same period last year. The most significant drop was registered in the state budget, 24.8%, while local budget expenditure grew by 7.8%.
In another move, the National Statistics Institute has recently announced that in the second quarter of the year, Romania’s GDP registered a slight increase of 0.3%, as compared to the first quarter, but it’s still dropping if we compare it with the corresponding period of last year, therefore the economy as a whole actually contracted by 1.5% in the first six months of 2010.
PM Emil Boc has commented the recent statistics, according to which Romania is about to overcome recession. He has stated that although this growth is timid, it is the first after several quarters of recession.
Boc believes that the situation would have been better if flooding had not hit and the Constitutional Court had not overturned the Government’s decision to cut pensions by 15%. As a result, the executive decided to increase the VAT from 19 to 24%. Emil Boc:
“In the second quarter, for the first time after several quarters, the economy registered a growth. Industrial output is also on the rise, boasting one of the best rates in Europe" sais Mr. Boc.
With regard to budget expenditure, the 7-month analysis has revealed that, compared to what we committed to, payroll expenses decreased, just like social assistance expenses, the number of posts in the public sector also decreased, revenues to the state budget have started to slightly grow and material expenses have also dropped, although, unfortunately, at a local level the situation is the other way round, acording to PM Boc.
"Therefore, there are clear signals that the restructuring and reform program that we have started to implement has already shown positive results", said Mr. Boc.
The Romanian Prime Minister has stated that according to analyses conducted by the European Council and the IMF, a 1.5 – 2% economic growth is envisaged for next year.
(Radio România Internaţional, Serviciul în limba engleză).
