Romanian economy to growth by 7 percent in 2006

Romania will register a 7 percent economic increase in 2006, said Vergil Voineagu, President of the National Statistics Institute, on Friday.

"According to the results of the first and second quarters and taking into account the influence factors and the contributions of economic branches, I am convinced the growth will be over 7 percent," said Voineagu at a press conference.

GDP was 139.9 billion lei (50.87 billion U.S. dollars) over the first semester, up 7.4 percent as against the similar past period, which was the best period for economic growth since 2001.

The economic growth was 6.9 percent in the first quarter and 7. 8 percent in the second quarter of 2006.

The economic growth in Romania in the second quarter was much higher than in EU countries, which stood at 2.2 percent on average. Only Lithuania ranked ahead of Romania over the interval with a 8. 4 percent economic increase.

Source: Xinhua