Romanian 1Q GDP -2.6% On Quarter, -6.4% On Year

The first quarter GDP shrank by a seasonally-adjusted 2.6% compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, and was down 6.4% against the first three months of 2008, in unadjusted data.

According to seasonally-adjusted data, Romanian GDP rose in the second and the third quarter of 2008 against the previous quarters by 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

In the last three months of the year, the GDP fell 3.4% compared with the previous quarter.

Therefore, Romanian economy is in technical recession, following two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

As of 2000, Romanian GDP rose in every quarter. The National Statistics Institute started to compute the GDP on a quarterly basis as of 1998. The largest contraction of Romanian GDP, of 6.6%, was in 1998’s first quarter.