The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has improved its estimates on the evolution of Romania’s economy in 2019 and maintained its GDP forecast in 2020, a report released by the international financial institution said on Wednesday.

According to the latest EBRD forecasts, Romania’s economy is expected to register a growth of 4% this year, compared to a 3.2% advance forecast in May. For 2020 the EBRD kept the estimation regarding a 3.2% expansion of the GDP of Romania.

It is estimated that the Romanian economy has accelerated from an already solid growth of 4% in 2018 to 4.6% in the first half of 2019. Private consumption had the highest contribution to this expansion, supported by the tightening of the labor market, the pro-cyclical fiscal policy, including the increase of pensions and wages in the public system, of the minimum wage, and the growth of lending rate in the retail segment, is shown in the report quoted by Agerpres.

The unemployment rate, about 4% in June 2019, is the lowest in the last decade, making it difficult to recruit and stimulating the further increase in wages.