Romania: Growth accelerates in the fourth quarter
GDP growth gathered pace to 4.6% year on year in the fourth quarter, from 3.8% in the third quarter.
Household spending increased 5.2% in the fourth quarter, which was above the third quarter’s 2.8% expansion. Government spending, meanwhile, dropped at the sharpest pace since Q3 2022, contracting 7.0% (Q3: +2.6% yoy). Moreover, fixed investment growth improved to 16.2% in Q4, from the 11.4% increase logged in the previous quarter.
Exports of goods and services growth fell to 1.7% in Q4, marking the worst reading since Q1 2021 (Q3: +13.5% yoy). In addition, imports of goods and services growth slowed to 3.3% in Q4 (Q3: +18.2% yoy), marking the worst reading since Q4 2020.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, economic growth edged down 1.0% in Q4, following the previous quarter’s 1.2% expansion. Q4’s reading marked the worst reading since Q4 2021.
Valentin Tataru and Frantisek Taborsky, analysts at ING, commented on the near-term outlook:
“While a slowdown in private consumption could be visible in the first quarter of 2023, which might even bring the overall GDP growth close to zero, the strong momentum in investment activity (presumably related to EU-financed projects) should continue and more than offset that.”