Moldova's economy expands 1.4% y/y in Q1

In unadjusted terms, Moldova's economy expanded by 1.9% year-on-year in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

Moldova's gross domestic product (GDP) totalled 67.4 billion lei ($3.8 billion/3.5 billion euro) at current prices in the period under review.

Compared to the previous quarter, Moldova's GDP increased by a seasonally-adjusted 2.5% in the January-March period.

The gross value added in the economy rose by a real 3.4% year-on-year in the first quarter, accounting for 2.9 percentage points (pp) of the country's unadjusted GDP growth rate. The production and supply of electricity and thermal energy, gas, hot water and air conditioning spearheaded GDP growth, adding 1.2 pp, while the manufacturing sector added 1.1 pp. Information and communication added 0.6 pp.

Net exports inched up by 1% year-on-year in the first quarter, accounting for 3.1 pp in Moldova's GDP growth. This development was mainly driven by an annual decrease of 41% in the volume of imports.

Transport and storage as well as real estate transactions were both negative contributors to Moldova's GDP in the first quarter, taking away 1.2 pp and 0.3 pp, respectively.

In 2023, the country's economy grew by 0.7% in real terms, compared to 13.9% growth in the previous year.

(1 euro = 19.0463 Moldovan lei)