The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2012 totaled 87.8 billion lei in current prices, a decrease of 0.8% on 2011, IPN reports, quoting the National Bureau of Statistics. In the last quarter of last year, the GDP came to 22.4 billion lei, 2.5% down compared with the fourth quarter of 2011.

The decline was due to the 23.3% reduction in the gross value added in agriculture and fish breeding. In the first quarter of 2012, the gross value added in agriculture decreased by 29.2% compared with the corresponding period of 2011, representing 13.0% of the GDP.

The gross value added in the manufacturing sector fell by over 10% compared with 2011. However, it increased in the service sector by 3.0% compared with a year before, contributing to a 1.8% increase in the physical volume of the GDP.

Initially, the Government projected that the GDP in 2012 will grow by 4.5% on 2011. The forecast has been reviewed several times. In an interview last yearend, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar anticipated that the GDP will decline by 0.2%, but the reality was different. This year the GDP is forecast to grow by 4%.