Romania reports highest growth rate in EU in Q3

Romania reported the highest quarterly economic growth rate among the European Union (EU) member states in the third quarter of 2011, according to preliminary estimates released Tuesday by the Eurostat official statistics office of the EU. Romania's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) advanced 1.9 percent in Q3 on a quarterly basis, while economic growth in the eurozone and the EU overall was only 0.2 percent. The National Statistics Institute of Romania reports that the country's economy recorded a 2.7-percent growth in the first nine months of 2011 compared with the similar period of the year before. President Traian Basescu said Monday evening that the country could end 2011 on a 2-percent economic growth. There was a 1.7-percent growth in the first quarter, a 1.4-percent growth in the second quarter, a 4.4-percent growth in the third quarter and he hopes to get a 2.5-percent growth in the fourth quarter. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week announced to keep Romania's economic growth forecast in 2011 at 1.5 percent, backed by strong exports and bumper crops.