Romania's 2011 GDP revised upwards

BUCHAREST: Romania's economy will likely grow 1.7 percent this year boosted by a better-than-expected harvest, above a 1.5 percent government and International Monetary Fund forecast, the head of the national forecast committee was quoted as saying.

"We might have even more (than 1.7 percent). Data from the ministry shows a high quality of the harvest," Ion Ghizdeanu was quoted as saying by state news agency Agerpres on Tuesday.

He also said the forecast committee, which is a government-controlled body, would lower next year's growth estimate to 2.5-3.2 percent. The government's forecast stands at 3.5-4 percent. Some analysts say the government might revise its forecasts after an IMF mission next month.

Analysts had said a good harvest was likely to offset a slowdown in exports as euro zone economies, Romania's main trading partners, struggle with a debt crisis this year, but they expect economic growth to take a hit in 2012.

President Traian Basescu has asked the centrist coalition government on Monday to cut its economic growth forecast for next year to no more than 2.5 percent, as the euro zone's debt crisis would likely weigh on exports.

Romania, which has a 5 billion euro aid deal led by the IMF, recorded 1.4 percent growth on the year in the second quarter, after it contracted more than 1 percent last year and more than 7 percent in 2009.

Copyright Reuters, 2011