ZF English

Economy is starting to recover, but there is still uncertainty

Autor: Claudia Medrega, Cristina Rosca

04.04.2011, 23:48 25

A first evaluation of the first quarter of the year from aneconomic point of view shows that there is still uncertainty andthat consumer spending has yet to resume growth, but real estatetransactions have slightly picked up, with real estate investorssignalling they have access to funding and are betting on arecovery in the second part of the year.

In addition, industrial output continues to grow, driven bydemand from abroad. Exports have risen beyond expectations, and inJanuary exceeded imports, which has very seldom been the case inthe last twenty years. The export increase amounted to 47.8%against January 2010.

Although slight positive signs have emerged in the constructionsector, the signals are not yet encouraging, with consumer spendingthe main problem remaining.

As for retail, players expect it to emerge from recession in thethird quarter. "The first quarter was one of recession in trade.The same will be true of the second quarter. Only then we will seethe situation stabilise. But if we compare the first three monthsof this year with the similar period of last year, we can noticethat the situation has stabilised," explains Alexandru Vlad,general manager of Selgros Cash&Carry Romania, with around 720million euros in turnover in 2009.

For the market of office rental in Bucharest, the first quarterof 2011 was the best in three years, with companies sealing newcontracts for spaces covering around 20,000 square metres, i.e. 1%of the existing Bucharest stock.

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