The National Bank of Romania has published the press release on 14th of October regarding the balance of payments and external debt for August 2019. As shown, in January – August 2019, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 7,080 million, compared with EUR 6,104 million in the same year-ago period.
The deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 2,081 million, the surplus on services income increased by EUR 357 million, the deficit of the primary income balance narrowed by EUR 963 million, and the surplus of the secondary income balance decreased by EUR 215 million.
In terms of non-residents’ direct investment in Romania, the latter totalled EUR 3,581 million (compared with EUR 3,482 million in January – August 2018), of which equity (including estimated net reinvestment of earnings) amounted to EUR 2,582 million and intercompany lending recorded a net value of EUR 999 million.
In January – August 2019, total external debt increased by EUR 9,131 million, of which:
- long-term external debt at end-August 2019 stood at EUR 74,342 million (68.2 percent of total external debt), up 8.9 percent against end-2018;
- short-term external debt at end-August 2019 amounted to EUR 34,630 million (31.8 percent of total external debt), up 9,7 percent from end-2018.
Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 17.3 percent in January – August 2019 against 22.6 percent in 2018. At end-August 2019, goods and services import cover stood at 5.1 months, as compared to 4.9 months at end-2018. At end- August 2019, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 76.4 percent, against 74.1 percent at end-2018.
For further information: National Bank of Romania