Comunicat de presă


Balance of Payments in 2007 Q1

16.05.2007

In 2007 Q1, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 3,055 million. This development can be ascribed mainly to the wider trade deficit, which amounted to EUR 3,188 million, up 88.4 percent from the corresponding period of last year.

- EUR million -
  2006 Q1* 2007 Q1**
CREDIT DEBIT NET CREDIT DEBIT NET
CURRENT ACCOUNT (A+B+C) 8,962 10,320 -1,358 11,066 14,121 -3,055
A. Goods and services 7,482 9,087 -1,605 8,874 11,889 -3,015
a. Goods (exports fob - imports fob)*** 6,218 7,910 -1,692 7,102 10,290 -3,188
b. Services 1,264 1,177 87 1,772 1,599 173
- transport 365 409 -44 444 521 -77
- tourism - travel 160 166 -6 169 225 -56
- other 739 602 137 1,159 853 306
B. Incomes 366 1,052 -686 573 1,663 -1,090
C. Current transfers 1,114 181 933 1,619 569 1,050

* rectified data

** provisional data

*** Source: National Institute of Statistics; imports fob are calculated based on CIF/FOB conversion coefficient of 1.0834 set by NIS.

Some 43 percent of the current account deficit were covered by inflows from foreign direct investment worth EUR 1,314 million in 2007 Q1. Equity stakes and reinvested earnings accounted fortwo thirds of the total figure, with intra-group loans1 accounting for the remaining one third.

Medium- and long-term external debt2 at end-March 2007 added 5.6 percent against end-2006 to EUR 29,620 million.

Public and publicly guaranteed external debt at end-March 2007 totalled EUR 10,562 million, accounting for 35.7 percent of medium- and long-term debt, compared with 38.2 percent at end-2006.

Non-publicly guaranteed external debt came in at EUR 17,435 million, rising 6.5 percent from end-2006.

Romania's medium- and long-term external debt at end-March 2007 and external debt service in 2007 Q1
- EUR million -
  Medium- and long-term external debt External debt service
2007 Q1p
Balance at 31/12/2006r Balance at 31/03/2007p
1. DIRECT PUBLIC DEBTa) 6,983 6,997 137
2. PUBLICLY GUARANTEED DEBTb),
of which:
3,737 3,565 231
- public sectorc) 3,557 3,397 219
- private sectord) 180 168 12
3. NON-PUBLICLY GUARANTEED DEBT,
of which:
16,370 17,435 1,626
- public sectorc) 579 581 13
- private sectord) 15,791 16,854 1,613
4. External debt (1+2+3) 27,090 27,997 1,994
5. Medium- and long-term deposits of non-residents 966 1,623 14e
Total external debt (4+5) 28,056 29,620 2,008

a) external loans taken directly by the Ministry of Economy and Finance/local general government in compliance with Public Debt Act

b) external loans guaranteed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance/local general government in compliance with Public Debt Act

c) financial and non-financial corporations with majority state-owned capital

d) financial and non-financial corporations with majority private capital

r - rectified data

p - provisional data

e - estimates

January through March 2007, import cover4 stood at 5.9 months versus 6.4 months at year-end 2006.


Notes:

  1. Loans between the foreign investor and the resident firm.
  2. External debt balance is subject to monthly revision.
  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 official reserves of the NBR (foreign exchange + gold) at end of period to average monthly