December 6 (SeeNews) - Romania's annual economic growth decelerated to 4.4% in the third quarter of 2016 from 6.0% the quarter before, provisional data from the country's statistics board, INS, showed on Tuesday.
In the first nine months of the year, Romania's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by an annual 4.9%, INS said in a statement.
On a seasonally adjusted quarterly comparison basis, Romania's GDP rose by 0.6% in the third quarter, slowing down from 1.5% in the preceding three months.
The figures are in line with a flash estimate released last month.
The agricultural sector output jumped 2% year on year in the third quarter, but fell 5.9% compared to the second quarter of 2016.
Final household consumption rose 5.6% on the year but decreased by 1.6% on the quarter, while gross fixed capital formation rose 2.8% on the year but fell by 6.5% on the quarter.
The industrial sector grew by 1.8% on the year and increased by 1% on the quarter.
Construction was up by 2.8% on the year in the third quarter of 2016 and by 0.4% on the quarter.
Imports of goods and services were up by 6.7% on the year and down by 3% on the quarter, while exports grew 6.3% on the year and were flat on the quarter.
Romania's national output expanded by a real 3.8% in 2015, compared with a revised growth rate of 3.0% in 2014.
Commenting on the figures, ING Bank analysts said that as suspected, the slowdown came amid a pull-back in private consumption, while net exports and inventories partly compensated for the drop.
"While investments are likely to remain soft going forward, we note that consumer confidence jumped to a post-crisis high in the fourth quarter, suggesting that economic activity could accelerate slightly after what might be only a temporary soft patch," ING analysts said in a daily market analysis.