Romania’s ’08 Curr Acct Gap Widens 1.2% To EUR16.87B

The bulk of the current account gap in 2008 was made by the trade deficit, which stood at EUR18.2 billion, compared with EUR17.8 billion in the year before. Imports and exports were calculated free-on-board.

Last year, the current account deficit was 53.5% covered by foreign direct investments which stood at EUR9.02 billion.

The current account gap widening slowed down in the last month of 2008. At the end of November, the current account deficit stood at EUR16 billion, 7.6% higher than after the first eleven months of 2007.

Romania’s total foreign debt rose to EUR49.95 billion at the end of the year, sharply higher compared with EUR38.52 billion at the end of December last year.