April 14 (SeeNews) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday that Romania's economy will shrink by 5% in 2020 and then rise by 3.9% in 2021.
In its previous forecast made in October, the IMF said that Romania's economy will grow by 4% in 2020 and by 3.5% in 2021.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting high and rising human costs worldwide, and the necessary protection measures are severely impacting economic activity. As a result of the pandemic, the global economy is projected to contract sharply by 3 percent in 2020, much worse than during the 2008–09 financial crisis," the IMF said in its April World Economic Outlook report.
Romania's current account deficit is forecast to widen 5.5% of GDP in 2020 from 4.7% in 2019. In 2021, the deficit is seen narrowing to 4.7%, according to the report.
Romania's consumer price inflation is seen at 2.2% in 2020 and 1.5% in 2021.
Unemployment is projected to rise to 10.1% at the end of 2020, from 3.9% in 2019, and then decline to 6% in 2021.
On April 9, the World Bank said that due to the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic it has sharply lowered its forecast for Romania's economic growth in 2020 to just 0.3%, from 3.8% projected in January.
(1 euro=4.8327 lei)