Balance-of-payments current account posted deficit of EUR 955 M

In January – October 2013, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 955 million as compared with EUR 5,331 million in the first ten months of 2012, due to the decrease in trade deficit (by EUR 3,519 million), as well as the increase in services surplus (by EUR 1,434 million1) and current transfers surplus (by EUR 292 million), according to BNR.
Non-residents’ direct investment in Romania totalled EUR 1,816 million (down 8.2 per cent as compared with January – October 2012), of which equity stakes consolidated with the estimated net loss amounted to EUR 1,334 million and intragroup loans to EUR 482 million.
Medium- and long-term external debt at end-October 2013 stood at EUR 79,571 million (80.4 per cent of total external debt), 1.0 per cent above the level recorded at end-2012. Short-term external debt at end-October 2013 totalled EUR 19,415 million (19.6 per cent of total external debt), down 7.2 per cent from end-2012.
On the other hand, Minister-Delegate for Budget Liviu Voinea said in a conference on investments and development that Romania’s attractiveness as destination of foreign direct investments (FDI) did not decline during the crisis period, either, but the FDI volume dropped because of the repatriation of profits over the past four years Foreign investors’ risk assumption in relation with Romania did not decrease during the crisis, Voinea mentioned, referring to the positive evolution of one of the three components of FDIs – the capital inflow – , actually showing the risk the investors assume, bringing in money ‘of their own pockets.’ The FDIs have three components – the capital inflow, the reinvested profit and the intra-company loans. According to Voinea, the capital inflow of foreign investors in the non-financial sector in the first 9 months of 2013 was twice as high as in 2007. In the banking sector, only the increased capitalisation demands compensated the banks’ profit diminishing and the foreign direct investment in the banking sector was negative in 2013, on the grounds of the different dynamics of the three components.