May 7 (SeeNews) - Analysts at Romania's ministry of finance said on Tuesday they expect the country's economy to grow by 5.5% this year, confirming the forecast they made in January.
Romania's gross domestic product (GDP) would total 1.031 trillion lei ($266 billion/238 billion euro) in 2019, the National Prognosis Commission (CNP), an analyst unit within the finance ministry, said in its spring economic forecast.
Economic growth will be backed by a 5.9% increase in final household consumption, CNP said, confirming earlier estimates.
Industry is expected to grow by 5.8%, agriculture by 1.9%, construction by 7.2% and services by 5.9% in 2019.
Exports of goods and services are expected to increase by 6.9% in 2019, while imports are seen growing by 7.8%, according to the latest CNP projections.
For 2020, the CNP analysts expect economic growth of 5.7%, the same as in the January forecast.
Romania's economy expanded by 4.1% year-on-year in 2018, compared to a growth rate of 7% in 2017, provisional data from the country's statistical board showed in April.
The International Monetary Fund said last month that Romania's real GDP growth is projected to reach 3.1% in 2019 before slowing to 3.0% in 2020.
(1 euro = 4.7586 Romanian lei)