The GDP growth for Q1 2008 was 8.2 percent, a Q1 record since 1990. The 8.9 percent growth sets a new quarterly record, while the 8.6 percent advance in H1 is a half-year growth record for the past 20 years, since Romania officially became a market economy.
However, financial market analysts are more cautious. “We have an 8.5 percent growth forecast for the economy in the second quarter. Our estimate for the first half of the year is 8.3-8.4 percent,” according to ING Bank Romania’s Senior Economist Nicolaie-Alexandru Chidesiuc for Business Standard.
Chidesiuc estimates that the economy will register 8 percent growth by the end of 2008. “The 8.9 percent scenario for the second quarter, presented by Vosganian, is possible,” he said. According to Chidesiuc, sources for economic growth were taxes and services, while agriculture was not taken into account in the second quarter.
