The balance-of-payments current account registered in the interval January – November 2016 a deficit of EUR 3,441 million, up from EUR 2,920 million in the first ten months, and almost three times higher than the one registered in the same period of last year, namely EUR 1,237 million reported in the same interval last year, reveal the data the National Bank of Romania (BNR) released on Friday.
In the assessed period, the goods balance and primary income balance recorded higher deficits, by EUR 1,590 million and EUR 936 million respectively, the surplus on secondary income narrowed by EUR 309 million, while that on services widened by EUR 631 million.
Long-term external debt at end-November 2016 stood at EUR 69,758 million (75.4 percent of total external debt), down 1.1 percent from the level reported at end-2015.
Short-term external debt at end-November 2016 amounted to EUR 22,740 million (24.6 percent of total external debt), up 14.4 percent against end-2015.
In the period under review, total external debt increased by EUR 2,064 million, of which the public debt rose by EUR 983 million and the non-publicly guaranteed debt by EUR 1,381 million, while the monetary authority’s debt declined by EUR 300 million.
Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 25.2 percent in January-November 2016 against 38.5 percent in 2015. At end-November 2016, goods and services import cover stood at 6.4 months, flat from end-2015.
At end-November 2016, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 92.3 percent, against 97.9 percent at end-2015.
