Romania's 1H Curr Acct Deficit Narrows 73.3% YY To EUR2.37B

The country’s trade deficit reached EUR2.96 billion in the first half, down 67.2% from EUR9.02 in the similar period of 2008. Imports and exports were calculated free-on-board.

In May-June period, the current account gap narrowed 75.5% on the year to EUR1.78 billion.

Foreign direct investments, which stood at EUR2.89 billion, entirely covered Romania’s current account deficit in the first six months. In the first half of 2008, the FDI stood at EUR5.07 billion.

Romania's total external debt was at EUR75.47 billion at the end of June, compared with EUR73.42 billion at the end of 2008, the central bank said.

The wider debt was mostly due to higher medium- and long-term debt, which stood at EUR57.23 billion at the end of June, up 11.7% compared to EUR51.22 billion at the end of 2008.

The long-term debt accounted for 75.8% of Romania’s overall external debt in the first six months.

Short-term foreign debt at end-June was at EUR18.23 billion, down 17.8% on the year.

In 2008, Romania's current account deficit rose 1.2% to EUR16.87 billion, from EUR16.67 billion in the previous year, also due to a larger trade deficit.

The authorities forecast the current account gap to narrow to 7.5% of the gross domestic product by the end of 2009, compared with 12.6% of the GDP in 2008.

 

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