Comunicat de presă


Balance of Payments and External Debt - July 2009

11.09.2009

In January-July 2009, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 2,717 million, 73.8 percent lower than in the same period of 2008, due largely to the narrower trade deficit (EUR 3,236 million, down 69.4 percent).

- EUR million -
  January-July 2008* January-July 2009**
CREDIT DEBIT NET CREDIT DEBIT NET
CURRENT ACCOUNT (A+B+C) 31,177 41,549 -10,372 25,052 27,769 -2,717
A. Goods and services 25,124 35,298 -10,174 20,587 23,865 -3,278
a. Goods (exports fob - imports fob)*** 20,279 30,867 -10,588 16,345 19,581 -3,236
b. Services 4,845 4,431 414 4,242 4,284 -42
- transport 1,478 1,584 -106 1,204 1,102 102
- tourism - travel 718 747 -29 540 638 -98
- other 2,649 2,100 549 2,498 2,544 -46
B. Incomes 1,344 4,625 -3,281 723 2,405 -1,682
C. Current transfers 4,709 1,626 3,083 3,742 1,499 2,243

  * revised data
 ** provisional data
*** Source: National Institute of Statistics (NIS); imports FOB are calculated based on CIF/FOB conversion coefficient of 1.0834 set by the NIS.

Non-residents’ direct investment in Romania worth EUR 3,097 million (as compared with EUR 5,948 million over January-July 2008) entirely covered the current account deficit in the first seven months of 2009. During January-July 2009, out of the total of EUR 3,097 million, intra-group loans1 accounted for 48.6 percent of the total figure, equity stakes for 41.2 percent and reinvested earnings for 10.2 percent.

Medium- and long-term external debt at end-July 2009 added 16.7 percent against end-2008 to EUR 59,757 million (77.8 percent of total external debt).

Short-term external debt at end-July 2009 totalled EUR 17,018 million (22.2 percent of total external debt), down 23.3 percent from year-end 2008.

Romania's external debt at end-July 2009* and external debt service over January-July 2009

- EUR million -
  Total external debt balance External debt service
January-July 2009p
End-2008r End-July 2009p
I. Medium- and long-term external debt 51,221 59,757 5,794
I.1. Direct public debta) 9,012 10,277 799
I.2. Publicly guaranteed debtb) 1,721 1,611 207
I.3. Non-publicly guaranteed debt 35,021 36,574 3,357
I.4. Medium- and long-term deposits of non-residents 5,467 6,482 1,382e
I.5. IMF borrowingsc) - 4,813 49
II. Short-term external debt 22,200 17,018 21,527e
Total external debt (I+II) 73,421 76,775 27,321

*) The balance of medium- and long-term external debt is cash-based (excluding unmatured accrued interest).
a) external loans taken directly by the Ministry of Public Finance and local general government in compliance with the legislation on public debt
b) external loans guaranteed by the Ministry of Public Finance and local general government in compliance with the legislation on public debt
c) the first tranche worth SDR 4.37 billion of the Stand-By Arrangement concluded with the IMF on 4 May 2009
r - revised data
p - provisional data
e - estimates

Medium- and long-term external debt service ratio2 ran at 28.1 percent in the first seven months of 2009, compared to 29.3 percent in 2008. At end-July 2009, goods and services import cover3 stood at 8.7 months versus 5.7 months at year-end 2008.


Notes:

  1. Loans between the foreign investor and the resident company.
  2. External debt service ratio is computed as a ratio of medium- and long-term external debt service to exports of goods and services.
  3. Import cover is computed as a ratio of the NBR's official reserves (foreign exchange + gold) at end of period to average monthly imports of goods and services for the period under review.