Romanian President: "Romania has entered recession"

'The economy is booming only in the imagination of Ponta. In reality, it has started depreciating. According to the standards of the European Union, Romania has entered recession. The definition oif the Eurostat for recession: two consecutive quarters of economic decline from previous quarters. Romania is finding itself in such a situation, although there is a slight economic upturn from 2013. The economy has already hit a decline that spans two consecutive quarters: Q1, 2014 — with a negative growth of 0.2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Q2, 2014 — with a negative growth of 1 per cent from Q1, 2014. In technical terms, that means the Romanian economy has entered recession,' Basescu said at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

Romania's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) went down 1 percent in seasonally adjusted terms in the second quarter of 2014 compared to the previous quarter, but against the similar period of 2013, Romania's economy grew by 1.4 percent, according to estimated flash data released by the National Statistics Institute (INS) on Thursday. Romania's Q2, 2014 GDP was 1.2 percent higher in unadjusted terms than in Q2, 2013.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced on Thursday the official figures confirm that Romania's economic growth continues, one of the "strongest in the EU."

"The official data confirm the good news, Romania's economic growth continues! A 2.6 percent increase compared to the same half of last year, 9.1 percent industrial growth and meeting the target of a minimum 2.5 percent increase for this year. We still have one of the strongest growths in the EU. It's like we were driving 130 km per hour and now we are driving 100 km per hour, but we are moving forward!" Ponta wrote on his Facebook page.

The Premier also said the pace of the economic growth should be sustained by the cut in the social security contributions (CAS); he pointed out that "more could be done" if there were no obstacles from "a regime that only wants austerity policies." /AGERPRES/- Oculus News