The GDP of the Eurozone and the European Union also witnessed a recession in the last quarter of 2023 compared to the previous three months. Romania was among the member states where economic performance declined the most, Eurostat announced on Friday.
According to data from the European Union Statistical Office, Denmark (2 percent), Croatia (1.3 percent) and Slovenia (1.1 percent) achieved the highest growth in GDP in the last quarter of last year compared to the previous quarter.
In contrast, the performance of the economy declined by 3.4% in Ireland, by 0.7% in Estonia and Finland, and by 0.5% in Romania. Romania recorded a 1 percent increase in the third quarter of last year, and a 1.4 percent increase in the second quarter.
Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, in the last quarter of last year, the European Union economy grew by 0.2 percent, and the euro area economy by 0.1 percent. The Romanian economy grew by 1.1 percent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2023, after the 3.5 percent expansion recorded in the previous three months.
Eurostat also announced that the number of employed people rose by 0.3 percent in the euro area and by 0.2 percent in the European Union compared to the previous quarter in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In terms of employment growth, Romania led the way at 1.5 percent, followed by Malta (1.4 percent) and Spain (0.8 percent).
According to Eurostat estimates, in the fourth quarter of the previous year, the number of workers in the European Union reached 217.1 million people, of whom 169.3 million worked in the euro area.
On Friday, the National Institute of Statistics changed its estimate for Romanian economic growth in 2023 from the previously announced 2% to 2.1%; In the fourth quarter of last year, the economy contracted by 0.5 percent.
According to preliminary data released by the Tax Administration, in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter, the value of GDP decreased by 0.5 percent to 415.906 billion lei, compared to the third quarter, but increased by 1.1 percent compared to the third quarter. The same period in 2022.
According to preliminary data, the estimated GDP for the fourth quarter of last year reached 474.502 billion lei in absolute terms, 3 percent higher than that recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The value of GDP last year at current prices reached 1,598.576 billion lei, an increase of 2.1 percent compared to 2022.
