The balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 239 million in January 2021, decreasing by 36.6% compared to that of January 2020, which stood at EUR 377 million, reads a release of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) sent on Tuesday to AGERPRES.
The breakdown shows that the deficit on trade in goods decreased by EUR 56 million, the surplus on services increased by EUR 226 million, the primary income surplus narrowed by EUR 31 million and the secondary income deficit rose by EUR 113 million.
In January 2021, the total external debt decreased by EUR 58 million. In terms of structure, long-term external debt amounted to EUR 91.457 billion on January 31, 2021 (72.9% of total external debt), increasing by 0.2% compared to December 31, 2020. Short-term external debt recorded as of January 31, 2021, the level of EUR 33.937 billion (27.1% of the total external debt), decreasing by 0.7% compared to December 31, 2020.
The long-term external debt service rate was 9.8% in January 2021, compared to 18.6% in 2020. The coverage of imports of goods and services on January 31, 2021 was 5.8 months, in compared to 5.7 months as of December 31, 2020.
The degree of coverage of short-term external debt, calculated at the residual value, with foreign exchange reserves at the BNR on January 31, 2021 was 86.7%, compared to 88.4% on December 31, 2020.