In January – May 2018, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 3,018 million, compared with EUR 2,606 million in January – May 2017; the deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 589 million, the surplus on services income narrowed by EUR 179 million, the deficit of the primary income balance contracted by EUR 105 million, and the surplus of the secondary income balance increased by EUR 251 million, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) informs in a release posted on its website.
Non-residents’ direct investment in Romania totalled EUR 1,720 million (compared with EUR 1,462 million in January – May 2017), of which equity (including estimated net reinvestment of earnings) amounted to EUR 2,208 million and intercompany lending recorded a negative net value of EUR 488 million.
In January – May 2018, total external debt increased by EUR 2,563 million, of which:
- long-term external debt at end-May 2018 stood at EUR 67,543 million (70.3 percent of total external debt), down 1.6 percent from end-2017;
- short-term external debt at end-May 2018 amounted to EUR 28,497 million (29.7 percent of total external debt), up 14.6 percent against end-2017.
Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 18.9 percent in January – May 2018 against 23.9 percent in 2017. At end-May 2018, goods and services import cover stood at 5.2 months, as compared to 5.4 months at end-2017.
At end-May 2018, 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 87.2 percent at end-2017.