Bad news from Eurostat: according to preliminary data, in 2020 GDP fell by 6.8% in the Euro area and by 6.4% in the EU. The data also measure the decline of the GDP for the fourth quarter and it shows a decline of 0.7% in the Euro area and a 0.5% in the EU.
The decline occurred following the governments’ decisions to take measures to combat COVID-19 pandemic. The only period of 2020 where the Euro economy registered an increase was the third quarter, when the European states relaxed the restrictions, but still, the 12.4% GDP growth in the Q3 for the Euro area and the 11.5% for the EU were only possible because of the drastic drop in Q2.
When comparing all the quarters to the similar ones from 2019 we can see the drastic drop:
The perspectives are good, though, as predictions show the EU economy could grow with more than 4% this year as compared to 2020. Still, there will take some more time than a year for the economy to recover to the level it had before pandemic.
Romanian Government also expects a 4.3% growth of GDP in 2021, a prediction on which this year’s budget is based. Also, the inflation rate is expected to reach 2.5% by the end of the year, and the RON/EUR exchange rate is expected to be 4.89 on average in 2021.
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