INS confirms previous GDP growth of 3.8 pct for 2015

According to data released by the National Institute for Statistics, Romania’s economy advanced 3.8 percent (seasonally adjusted) in the last quarter of 2015 year on year, while gross series showed a 3.7 percent increase, showing no change to previously announced values.

The GDP – seasonally adjusted data ‐ estimated for Q4 2015 amounted to RON 180.04 billion, current prices. Over the previous quarter the increase stood at 1.1 percent. In unadjusted series, the GDP amounted to RON 209.9 billion, current prices.

For the whole year, the GDP reached RON 710.2 billion, current prices, almost all industries contributing to the advance, except for agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Industry, which had the largest share of GDP (23.2 percent), saw a 2 percent increase in volume, having a 0.5 percent contribution. Wholesale and retail, automotive repair, transport, storage and HoReCa (15.8 percent of GDP) recorded a higher volume advance of 6.4 percent, having a contribution of 1 percent.

Construction, with a share of 7.4 percent in GDP, whose activity volume increased by 8.8 percent, had a contribution of 0.6 percent, the same as information and communication, which had a smaller share in GDP (5.7 percent), but recorded a significant increase in activity volume (11.8 percent).

Net taxes on products brought in 0.7 percent to the GDP with an increase in volume of 5.7 percent, while their share in GDP stood at 12.1 percent.

From GDP uses standpoint, the increase was mainly due to final consumption expenditure of households (whose volume increased by 6.2 percent), contributing 3.8 percent. Gross fixed capital formation also had a positive contribution of +1.8 percent, as a consequence of the increase by 7.5 percent of its volume.

The net export had a negative contribution (down 1.6 percent) being influenced by the volume increase of exports of goods and services, by 4.7 percent, in correlation with a higher increase of the volume of imports of goods and service, by 8.4 percent.

At the beginning of last month Eurostat placed Romania’s economy well above the EU median, recording the second largest economic growth in the bloc in 2015.