In January - July 2022, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 14,931 million, compared with EUR 9,122 million in the same year-ago period, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) informs in a release.
The breakdown shows that the deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 5,292 million, the surplus on services increased by EUR 1,659 million, the primary income deficit grew by EUR 2,492 million, while the secondary income surplus increased by EUR 316 million.
In January - July 2022, total external debt increased by EUR 5,816 million, of which: long-term external debt at end-July 2022 ran at EUR 96,343 million (68.6 percent of total external debt), down 0.8 percent against end-2021; short-term external debt at end-July 2022 amounted to EUR 44,090 million (31.4 percent of total external debt), up 17.7 percent from end-2021, told Agerpres.
Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 13.3 percent in January - July 2022 against 16.4 percent in 2021. At end-July 2022, goods and services import cover stood at 4.3 months, as compared to 4.9 months at end-2021.
At end-July 2022, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania's foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 76.6 percent, against 81.9 percent at end-2021.