Comunicat de presă


Balance of payments and external debt, Q1 2011

16.05.2011

In Q1 2011 the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 634 million, 58.9 percent lower as compared to Q1 2010, due to the decrease in trade deficit by 64.6 percent and the increase in current transfers surplus by 68.0 percent (on the back of net transfers received by the general government).

- EUR million -
  Q1 2010r Q1 2011p
CREDIT DEBIT NET CREDIT DEBIT NET
CURRENT ACCOUNT (A+B+C) 10,725 12,269  -1,544 14,164 14,798 -634
A. Goods and services 9,273 10,839 -1,566 12,482 13,242 -760
a. Goods (exports fob – imports fob)s 7,902  9,189 -1,287 11,016  11,471  -455
b. Services 1,371  1,650  -279 1,466 1,771 -305
- transport 396  447  -51  451  560  -109
- tourism-travel 162  244  -82 210  283 -73
- other 813  959  -146 805  928  -123
B. Incomes 210 622  -412 251  854  -603
C. Current transfers 1,242  808  434  1,431 702  729

r  - revised data
p - provisional data
s  - 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 379 million1 (as compared to EUR 486 million in Q1 2010) covered 59.8 percent of the current account deficit in the first three months of 2011. Out of the total figure, intra-group loans2 amounted to EUR 290 million and equity stakes consolidated with estimated net loss to EUR 89 million.

Medium- and long-term external debt at end-March 2011 stood at EUR 74,278 million (79.5 percent of total external debt), 2.5 percent above the level recorded at end-2010.

Short-term external debt at end-March 2011 totalled EUR 19,126 million (20.5 percent of total external debt), up 3.7 percent from end-2010.

Romania's external debt at end-March 2011*
and external debt service in Q1 2011
- EUR million -
  External debt External debt service
Q1 2011p
End-2010r End-March 2011p
I. Medium- and long-term external debt 72,471 74,278 2,238
I.1. Direct public debta) 16,022 17,129 366
I.2. Publicly guaranteed debtb) 1,708 1,637 61
I.3. Non-publicly guaranteed debt 37,431 37,329 1,581
I.4. Medium- and long-term deposits of non-residents 8,227 8,516 167e
I.5. IMF borrowingsc) 9,083 9,667 63
II. Short-term external debt 18,437 19,126 8,685e
Total external debt (I+II) 90,908 93,404 10,923

*) The balance of external debt is cash-based (excluding unmatured accrued interest); the IMF’s SDR allocations are not included.
a) external loans taken directly by the Ministry of Public Finance and local general government in compliance with the legislation on public debt, including Government Emergency Ordinance 99/2009 ratifying the Stand-by Arrangement between Romania and the IMF;
b) external loans guaranteed by the Ministry of Public Finance and local general government in compliance with the legislation on public debt;
c) under the Stand-by Arrangement concluded with the IMF, excluding the amount received by the Ministry of Public Finance from the IMF according to Government Emergency Ordinance 99/2009.
e - estimates     p - provisional data     r - revised data

Medium- and long-term external debt service ratio3 ran at 17.9 percent in Q1 2011, as compared to 33.3 percent in 2010. At end-March 2011, goods and services import cover4 stood at 8.2 months, as compared to 8.6 months at end-2010.


Notes:

  1. Estimated data
  2. Loans between parent company and its resident branch.
  3. External debt service ratio is computed as a ratio of medium- and long-term external debt service to exports of goods and services.
  4. 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.