In January – November 2024, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 26,301 million, compared with EUR 19,770 million in the same year-ago period, the latest central bank report shows. The breakdown shows that the deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 3,824 million, the surplus on services fell by EUR 1,766 million, the primary income deficit increased by EUR 1,056 million, while the secondary income surplus grew by EUR 115 million.
Non-residents’ direct investment in Romania totalled EUR 5,852 million (compared with EUR 6,611 million in January – November 2023), of which equity (including the estimated reinvestment of earnings) and intercompany lending recorded net values of EUR 4,720 million and EUR 1,132 million, respectively.
In January – November 2024, total external debt increased by EUR 19,215 million to EUR 202,454 million, of which:
- long-term external debt at end-November 2024 ran at EUR 153,734 million (75,9 percent of total external debt), up 12,2 percent against end-2023;
- short-term external debt at end-November 2024 amounted to EUR 48,720 million (24,1 percent of total external debt), up 5,4 percent from end-2023.
Long-term external debt service ratio stood at 14.8 percent in November 2024 against 16.7 percent in 2023. At end-November 2024, goods and services import cover ran at 5.7 months, as compared to 5.6 months at end-2023.
At end-November 2024, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 102 percent, as against 99.7 percent at end-2023.