The current account of the balance of payments recorded a deficit of 4.043 billion euros in the first eight months of this year, up 52.39pct compared to the similar period of 2016, according to the data with the National Bank of Romania (BNR), released on Monday.
"Between January and August 2017, the current account of the balance of payments recorded a deficit of 4.043 billion euros compared to 2.653 billion euros between January and August 2016. In the structure, the balance of goods recorded a higher deficit by 1.433 billion euros, the balance of services recorded a larger surplus by 146 million euros, the primary revenue balance ended with a smaller deficit by 113 million euros, and the secondary revenue balance recorded a surplus lower by 216 million euros," reads the BNR release.
Between January and August 2017, the total foreign debt increased by 1.167 billion euros. The long-term foreign debt totaled 69.527 billion euros on August 31, 2017 (73.9pct of total foreign debt), down 0.2pct from December 31, 2016. The short-term foreign debt recorded, on August 31, 2017, the level of 24.550 billion euros (26.1pct of total foreign debt), up 5.5pct from December 31, 2016," the document shows.
The long-term foreign debt service rate was 21.1pct between January and August 2017, compared to 30pct in 2016. The coverage level of imports of goods and services on August 31, 2017 was 5.9 months compared to 6.3 months on December 31, 2016. The short-term external debt coverage ratio, calculated at the residual value, with the foreign exchange reserves of BNR on August 31, 2017 was 86.2pct, compared to 90.5pct on December 31, 2016.