Coface Sees Romania’s 2010 GDP Growth Above 0.5%

The GDP growth might even reach 1%, Cristian Ionescu, general manager of Coface for Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, said Wednesday.

Coface expects the inflation rate to fall to 4% by the end of the year, from 4.74% in December 2009.

The company predicts the current account deficit will widen to 6% of the GDP in 2010, from 5.6% of the GDP last year, while the public debt is seen at 62% of the GDP at the end of the year, compared with 55.4% of the GDP in 2009.

Coface estimates that both exports and imports will grow this year. Therefore, imports are predicted at $50.7 billion, from $46.6 billion in 2009, while shipments are seen growing from $34.3 billion to $37.1 billion in 2010.