Comunicat de presă


Balance of payments and external debt, May 2011

15.07.2011

In January-May 2011 the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 1,818 million, 37.7 percent lower than in the same year-ago period, due mainly to the decrease in trade deficit by 23.9 percent and the increase in current transfers surplus by 85.8 percent (on the back of net transfers received by the general government).

- EUR million -
  January-May 2010r January-May 2011p
CREDIT DEBIT NET CREDIT DEBIT NET
CURRENT ACCOUNT (A+B+C) 18,568 21,485  -2,917 23,879 25,697 -1,818
A. Goods and services 16,166 19,119 -2,953 20,978 23,279  -2,301
a. Goods (exports fob – imports fob)s 13,806 16,380 -2,574 18,229 20,188 -1,959
b. Services 2,360 2,739 -379 2,749 3,091  -342
- transport 699  794  -95 826  1,018  -192
- tourism-travel 310  431  -121 364  486  -122
- other 1,351 1,514 -163 1,559  1,587  -28
B. Incomes 375  1,136  -761 419  1,417 -998
C. Current transfers 2,027  1,230 797  2,482 1,001   1,481

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 799 million1 (down 23.3 percent as compared to January-May 2010) covered 43.9 percent of the current account deficit in the first five months of 2011. Out of the total figure, intra-group loans2 amounted to EUR 682 million and equity stakes consolidated with estimated net loss to EUR 117 million.

Medium- and long-term external debt at end-May 2011 stood at EUR 74,565 million (78.7 percent of total external debt), 2.9 percent above the level recorded at end-2010.

Short-term external debt at end-May 2011 totalled EUR 20,154 million (21.3 percent of total external debt), up 9.3 percent from end-2010.

Romania's external debt at end-May 2011*
and external debt service in January-May 2011
- EUR million -
  External debt External debt service
January-May 2011p
End-2010r End-May 2011p
I. Medium- and long-term external debt 72,471 74,565 3,697
I.1. Direct public debta) 16,022 17,303 656
I.2. Publicly guaranteed debtb) 1,708 1,609 87
I.3. Non-publicly guaranteed debt 37,431 37,511 2,681
I.4. Medium- and long-term deposits of non-residents 8,227 8,514 210e
I.5. IMF borrowingsc) 9,083 9,628 63
II. Short-term external debt 18,437 20,154 9,912e
Total external debt (I+II) 90,908 94,719 13,609

*) 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 17.6 percent in January-May 2011, against 33.3 percent in 2010. At end-May 2011, goods and services import cover4 stood at 7.8 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.