Real versus nominal value

Economic growth has also put more money in the Romanians' pockets, Premier Viorica Dancila said at the beginning of the government meeting, arguing that according to the official data, the net nominal average wage in February was by 17.9 percent higher compared to the same period last year. "Economic growth can also be seen in the Romanians' pockets.

The net nominal average salary dropped to 2,933 lei in February this year, less by 3 lei (-0.1pct) compared to the previous month, when the gross nominal average salary was 4,819 lei, by 0.4pct lower than in January 2019, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS) data published on Monday.

Romania's economic growth over the first nine months of 2018 was 4.2pct, both in unadjusted terms and seasonally adjusted, compared with the same period of 2017; compared with Q2 2018, Q3 2018 economic growth was 1.9pct higher in real terms, according to data with the National Institute of Statistics (INS) released on Wednesday.

In previous Notes for Discussion, we addressed a possible path for real GDP, the deflator as a measure of prices and inflation, and the path for nominal GDP.

The previous Note for Discussion looked at a path for nominal gross domestic product and developments in the implicit GDP deflator; the latter being a broad measure of inflation in the Greek economy. We ended up asking ourselves, upon inspecting this "price vector" for Greece, whether external competitiveness has improved and has now been restored.

Compared with the previous month, the average gross wage increased by 6.2 percent in nominal terms and by 5 percent in real terms, the Statistical Office of Serbia (RZZS) has announced.

The average net wage meanwhile increased by 6.7 percent in nominal terms, and by 5.5 percent in real terms.

Real inflation was last year shielded by tax measures such as the VAT cut, and if we did the numbers excluding the fiscal impact, the inflation rate would not have been that deep in the negative in the first half of 2017, governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) Mugur Isarescu said at the meeting organized by the Senate's Committee on Economy, Industries and Services.

BELGRADE - Serbia's real GDP growth in Q4 2017 was 2.5 pct up compared to the same period of the previous year, the national statistical office said in a statement on Wednesday.

"According to seasonally-adjusted GDP data, gross domestic product increased by 0.6 pct in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the previous quarter," it said.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (RZS) announced this on Friday.

According to estimates, gross fixed capital formation in 2017, related to 2016, expressed a real growth that equals 5.3 percent, the RZS said on its website.

Average gross salaries and wages paid in Serbia in November amounted to RSD 65,609 (EUR 550) - RSD 47,575 (EUR 400) net.

Compared to October, this was an increase of 1.6 percent in nominal and real terms, while average net salaries and wages increased by 1.5 percent both in nominal and real terms, the Statistic Office (RZS) announced.