BUCHAREST, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Romania's economy increase 4.6 percent in the third quarter year-on-year, recording the strongest growth among the European Union (EU) member states, according to the estimate data released Tuesday by Eurostat, the European statistical office.
This is the second quarter in a row when the eastern European country topped the EU annual economic growth charts.
Eurostat said the 19-country eurozone economy grew by 1.7 percent in Q3 year-on-year and the 28-country EU bloc recorded 1.9 percent economic growth.
Romania's National Institute of Statistics (INS) on Tuesday identified the country's annual economic growth rate at 4.4 percent in the third quarter and 4.9 percent in the first nine months of the year.
Household consumption was the main drive of economic growth, as it increased by 8.9 percent in the first nine months, according to the INS provisional data.
The International Monetary Fund recently estimated a 5 percent economic growth for Romania in 2016, the highest in Europe.
The World Bank late last month improved its estimate for Romanian economic growth this year to 5.1 percent from 4 percent as estimated five months ago.
The European Commission, or the EU executive body, in early November also revised upwards its Romanian growth estimates by one percentage point, to 5.2 percent.
