Romania's current account deficit widens by 84pct, Jan.-Feb. 2020

In January - February 2020, Romania's balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of 325 million euros, compared with 176 million euros in the same year-ago period, according to a press statement released on Tuesday by the National Bank of Romania (BNR).

According to BNR data, the deficit in trade in goods widened by 240 million euros, the surplus in services decreased by 123 million euros, the surplus of the primary income balance increased by 88 million euros, while the surplus in the secondary income balance rose by 126 million euros.

In January - February 2020, total external debt increased by 4,748 million euros, of which long-term external debt at end-February 2020 stood at 77,997 million euros (70.5 percent of total external debt), up 5.9 percent against end-2019.

Short-term external debt at end-February 2020 amounted to 32,624 million euros (29.5 percent of total external debt), up 1.2 percent from end-2019..

Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 14.6 percent in January - February 2020 against 18.6 percent in 2019. At end-February 2020, goods and services import cover stood at 5.1 months, as compared to 4.6 months at end-2019.

At end-February 2020, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania's foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 77.9 percent, against 73.8 percent at end-2019.