In January – August 2017p, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 4,043 million, compared with EUR 2,653 million in January – August 2016; the deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 1,433 million, the surplus on services increased by EUR 146 million, the primary income deficit narrowed by EUR 113 million, while the surplus on secondary income contracted by EUR 216 million, according to a BNR press release.
Balance of payments current account (EUR million) | ||||||
| January – August 2016p | January – August 2017p | ||||
CREDIT | DEBIT | BALANCE | CREDIT | DEBIT | BALANCE | |
CURRENT ACCOUNT (A+B+C) | 51,055 | 53,708 | -2,653 | 56,050 | 60,093 | -4,043 |
A. Goods and services | 45,532 | 46,216 | -684 | 50,777 | 52,748 | -1,971 |
a. Goods | 33,933 | 39,691 | -5,758 | 37,386 | 44,577 | -7,191 |
b. Services | 11,599 | 6,525 | 5,074 | 13,391 | 8,171 | 5,220 |
- manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others | 1,716 | 128 | 1,588 | 1,929 | 123 | 1,806 |
- transport | 3,592 | 1,226 | 2,366 | 3,989 | 1,630 | 2,359 |
- tourism-travel | 1,050 | 1,238 | -188 | 1,563 | 2,050 | -487 |
- other | 5,241 | 3,933 | 1,308 | 5,910 | 4,368 | 1,542 |
B. Primary income | 2,035 | 5,691 | -3,656 | 2,586 | 6,129 | -3,543 |
C. Secondary income | 3,488 | 1,801 | 1,687 | 2,687 | 1,216 | 1,471 |
p) provisional data | ||||||
Non-residents’ direct investment in Romaniae totalled EUR 2,518 million (compared with EUR 3,092 million in January – August 2016), of which equity (including estimated net reinvestment of earnings) amounted to EUR 2,804 million and intercompany lending recorded a net negative value of EUR 286 million.
In January – August 2017, total external debt increased by EUR 1,167 million, of which:
long-term external debt at end-August 2017 stood at EUR 69,527 million (73.9 percent of total external debt), down 0.2 percent from end-2016;
short-term external debt at end-August 2017 amounted to EUR 24,550 million (26.1 percent of total external debt), up 5.5 percent against end-2016.
Romania’s external debt and external debt service (EUR million) | ||||
| External debt | External debt service January – August 2017p | ||
End-2016p | End-August 2017p | |||
I. Long-term external debt | 69,645 | 69,527 | 10,716 | |
I.1. Public debt | 32,299 | 33,898 | 2,401 | |
I.1.1. Direct public debt | 31,752 | 33,433 | 2,326 | |
I.1.2. Publicly guaranteed debt | 547 | 465 | 75 | |
I.2. Non-publicly guaranteed debt, of which: | 36,091 | 34,456 | 8,293 | |
I.2.1. Long-term deposits of non-residents | 3,637 | 3,051 | 1,200 | |
I.3. Debt of the monetary authority, of which: | 1,255 | 1,173 | 22 | |
I.3.1. Allocation of SDRs | 1,255 | 1,173 | 22 | |
II. Short-term external debt | 23,265 | 24,550 | 33,485 | |
Total external debt (I+II) | 92,910 | 94,077 | 44,201 | |
e) estimates p) provisional data | ||||
Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 21.1 percent in January – August 2017 against 30.0 percent in 2016. At end-August 2017, goods and services import cover stood at 5,9 months, as compared to 6.3 months at end-2016.
At end-August 2017, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 86.2 percent, against 90.5 percent at end-2016.