imageBUCHAREST: Romania's economy picked up speed in the third quarter and grew by 1.6 percent, official data showed on Thursday.

In the second quarter, the economy increased by 0.5 percent.

Strong agricultural output was a key driver of growth in the third quarter, analysts say.

In the first nine months of this year, Romania's economy, one of the biggest in Eastern Europe, grew by 2.7 percent, Romania's statistics institute (INS) said.

More detailed data will be published on December 4.

Last week the IMF revised upwards its growth forecast for Romania in 2013, from 2.0 percent to 2.2 percent, driven by strong agricultural output and exports.

Romania is expected to perform better than most of its Central and Eastern European neighbours.

So far, Poland and Hungary have respectively forecast growth of 1.5 percent and 0.7 percent this year while the Czech Republic should see a 1.0 percent contraction of its GDP. Bulgaria cut its forecast for economic growth from 1.0 percent to 0.6 percent.

In 2014, Romania's gross domestic product is forecast to expand by 2.2 percent.

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