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The current account of the balance of payments registered a deficit of EUR 3.497 billion in the first six months of the year, compared to EUR 4.373 billion in the same period of 2019, shows data from the National Bank of Romania (BNR) published on Thursday.
According to the central bank, structurally, semester-over-semester, the balance of goods registered a deficit by EUR 1.127 billion higher, the balance of services registered a surplus by EUR 376 million higher, the balance of primary income made a positive contribution of EUR 1.123 billion, and the balance of secondary income a surplus of EUR 504 million.
On the other hand, between January and June 2020, the total external debt increased by EUR 5.579 billion. In structure, the long-term external debt amounted to EUR 78,983 billion at 30 June 2020 (70.9 pct of the total external debt), an increase of 7.2 pct compared to 31 December 2019. The short-term external debt was EUR 32.469 billion (29.1 pct of the total external debt) at 30 June 2020, an increase of 0.8 pct compared to 31 December 2019, BNR said.
Moreover, the long-term foreign debt service ratio was 18.1 pct between January and June 2020, compared to 18.6 pct in 2019, while the coverage of imports of goods and services was 5.7 months, compared to 4.6 months, as of 31 December 2019.
The coverage of the short-term foreign debt, calculated at residual value, with BNR's foreign reserves as of 30 June 2020 was 80 pct, compared to 73.8 pct at the end of last year.
