Romania back into recession

Romania has fallen back into recession, official data showed Tuesday, with its gross domestic product shrinking by 0.1 percent in the first quarter, the second quarterly decrease in a row. Romanian GDP had contracted by 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2011. However, the slowdown in Romanian activity was less sharp than analysts had expected. Most had predicted a GDP decrease ranging from 0.2 to 0.3 percent in the first three months of this year. Romania, an EU member since 2007, emerged from two consecutive years of recession in 2011 with a growth of 2.5 percent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) still predicts growth of 1.5 percent in Romania for 2012 as a whole.