Bad news for the pessimists: Romania surprises once more

Well well well, what do we have here? The final official results of the progress of the Romanian economy in 2007. “So what?” one may say… It was just 8  -10 months ago. Do you remember all these voices which were predicting the worst scenario for Romania? “The economy will crush, the increase of the GDP will be slower and much more”. While the analysts were predicting 5,7%, some “sources from abroad” were talking for 5%.
So, what happened? The Gross Domestic Product of the country raised by 6% in 2007, surpassing the estimations of most of “experts” and the performance of the first nine months of the year (5.8%). Especially in the last quarter of the year, the Romanian economy reached a 6,6% growth rate!
The 97,2 billion euros of 2006 became 121,3 in 2007 (and they will reach 150 this year). Ok, comparing to western economies, this figure is not impressive. But, a country with a GDP of 40 billion in 2002 (I think) has managed to triple it in just 5 years. Plus, the pace remains strong, changing the life of the majority of the population (Ofcourse Romanians keep complaining, it is absolutely normal. You should listen to the Greeks, who have in papers 3 times higher income). The GDP per inhabitant reached 5.720 euros, allowing us to be positive that it will be doubled again within the next 5 years.
The strongest growth of economy was once more in the sectors of Constructions (+34.4%), Services (+7%) and Industry (+7.9%). In the same time, the sector of Agriculture was down by 18.3%, due to the very bad weather of last year.
In the same time, the investments were raised in really impressive figures: +29% in total, while Industry (+39%!), Commerce (+34.07%) and Constructions (+31.35%) were the leaders of the Romanian economy. Please note that the investments in these sectors create new jobs not only at the moment when they are concluded, but also for many more years. This is why the rate of unemployment is low and it will continue to be like this.
Mr Ion Ghizdeanu, president of the National Prognosis Commission (CNP) says that “Services fared better in the last quarter of the year. We might see higher-than-expected increases for the travel and trade sectors, but also a slower-than-expected decline in agriculture. Accelerated growth in the last quarter was almost certainly prompted by investments, whose growth rate increased from 25% after nine months, to 29% for the entire year”.
Facts prove that my optimism for the Romanian economy is based on strong basis. For me the most important factor is the billions of euros which are invested in the REAL economy, as my understanding for the market is mainly focused on the real economy and life of people. As long as the investments continue with this size and the rate of unemployment is so low, I feel very secure for the future of our investments in this country.
Romania, congratulations.

http://www.zf.ro/articol_163679/economy_up_6__in_2007__above_expectations.html
Greek Roundtable, analyzed by BBW
Last week I described to you with full details what happened to the Greek Roundtable, organized by Bucharest Business Week magazine. Here you can check their own presentation of the event, with full details. http://www.bbw.ro/articol_51287/Greeks_continue_to_expand_businesses.htm