The Romanian economy grew by 4 percent year on year in the first half of 2018, official data revealed on Tuesday.

In the second quarter, the economy expanded by 1.4 percent quarter on quarter in real terms, according to preliminary data released by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

The growth in the first half of this year mainly relied on the growth of the second quarter, as the gross domestic product (GDP) advanced only 0.1 percent in the first quarter compared to the previous one.

According to the Eurostat, Romania registered the highest growth in the second quarter in the European Union (EU), followed by Slovakia and Sweden (1 percent), Poland, Hungary and Litany (0.9 percent), while the EU average economic growth was 0.4 percent during this period.

The National Commission of Forecast estimates a 6.1 percent GDP growth for 2018, while the European Commission estimated a 4.5 percent growth and international financial institutions, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and others, predicted increase between 4.5 and 5 percent.

Romania's GDP recorded a growth of 7 percent last year, to 856.35 billion lei (211.3 billion U.S. dollars), the highest since 2008.

The Romanian economic growth has been at the forefront of the EU in recent years. Consumption is the main growth engine, followed by private investment, while public projects are at a standstill. Wages are rising, buoyed by public-sector salary increases, boosting consumption.

Economists believed that the government would have to adopt a more restrictive stance in the future to avoid the risk of macroeconomic destabilization.