Central Bank Councillor: The economic growth will not return to positive figures earlier than 2010 3rd trimester

Vineri, 12 iunie 2009, 15:26 English | Business

The economic growth might recover to positive figures during the third 2010 trimester. The second and third semester of 2009 might see higher lows than in the first three months of the year, against similar 2008 periods. The statement belongs to Romanian Central Bank (BNR) governor’s councillor Lucian Croitoru.

Croitoru expects economic growth to be visible in the third 2010 trimester. For the rest of 2009, he anticipates a further economic decline, but the contraction will not vary much from one trimester to another, according to the BNR councillor.

Croitoru was considering a greater contraction of the Romanian economy than the International Monetary Fund forecast (4%) for this year. He said that one reason could be if the crops were affected. He did not take out of the account further increase in the unemployment rate for the second half of 2009.

"Several companies may post-pone restructuring plans, thinking that the downturn might not be that dreadful and that they will need staff. But if the economy recovery will happen later rather than sooner, they might sack staff", he said.

Romania's economy shrank by 6.2% during the first trimester of 2009, according to Romania’s National Institute of Statistics (INS). Romania's GDP for the first trimester was 128.73 billion lei, dropping 4.6% from its 2008 value.