June 9 (SeeNews) - The World Bank said it expects that Romania's economy will contract by 5.7% this year, as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, downgrading its previous forecast made in April for a 0.3% growth.
For 2021, the World Bank expects the Romanian economy to recover by growing 5.4%, higher than the previously projected 4.4% rise in gross domestic product (GDP) for next year, it said in its June 2020 Global Economic Prospects report published on Monday.
The contraction of the Romanian economy in 2020 forecast by the World Bank in the June report is much stronger that the shrinking of GDP by 1.9%expected by the country's government.
Romania's economy expanded by 4.1% last year, according to the latest data available from the statistics office.
The World Bank also said that activity in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region is projected to decrease by 4.7% in 2020, a recession nearly as deep as the one the region experienced during the global financial crisis.
"The severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt across the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region through the collapse in global commodity prices, disruption to global and regional supply chains, and the effect of heightened global risk aversion on financial markets," the lender said.