Romania, largest annual economic growth in EU in Q1 2020

Romania recorded the most significant economic growth of the 27 EU member states in the first quarter of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, according to the flash estimates published on Friday by the European Statistical Office ( Eurostat). The GDP in the euro area fell by 3.2% in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2019, and the European Union recorded a decrease by 2.6%. It is the most severe decline in the third quarter of 2009. The most significant annual expansion in the EU between January and March 2020 was registered in Romania (2.7%), Lithuania (2.5%) and Bulgaria (2.4%), and the most significant decline was in France (minus 5.4%), Italy (minus 4.8%), Spain and Slovakia (both minus 4.1%). Also in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the previous three months, the euro area fell by 3.8% and the EU declined by 3.3%, the sharpest decline since time series started in 1995. The only quarterly increases in the EU between January and March 2019 were reported in Romania and Bulgaria (both by 0.3%) and Finland (0.1%), and the most significant decline was in France (minus 5.8%), Slovakia (minus 5.4%) and Spain (minus 5.2%). Eurostat mentions that in the case of Romania, the data is provisional and there are no data available for Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Croatia, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia. On June 9, Eurostat will release a second estimates regarding the development of the GDP in the euro area and the EU. AGERPRES (RO - author: Mihaela Dicu, editor: Oana Tilica; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi, editor: Rodica State)