Comunicat de presă


Balance of payments and external debt, June 2011

11.08.2011

In January-June 2011 the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 2,601 million, 28.6 percent lower than in the same year-ago period, due mainly to the decrease in trade deficit by 21.6 percent and the increase in current transfers surplus by 63.2 percent (on the back of net transfers received by the general government).

- EUR million -
  January-June 2010r January-June 2011p
CREDIT DEBIT NET CREDIT DEBIT NET
CURRENT ACCOUNT (A+B+C) 23,075 26,720  -3,645 28,689 31,290 -2,601
A. Goods and services 20,129 23,820 -3,691 25,309 28,350  -3,041
a. Goods (exports fob – imports fob)s 17,169 20,356 -3,187 22,011 24,510 -2,499
b. Services 2,960 3,464 -504 3,298 3,840  -542
- transport 889  1,009  -120 1,006  1,250  -244
- tourism-travel 387  534  -147 449  610  -161
- other 1,684 1,921 -237 1,843  1,980  -137
B. Incomes 490  1,483  -993 525  1,781 -1,256
C. Current transfers 2,456  1,417 1,039  2,855 1,159   1,696

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 1,015 million1 (down 17.3 percent as compared to January-June 2010) covered 39 percent of the current account deficit in the first half of 2011. Out of the total figure, intra-group loans2 amounted to EUR 696 million and equity stakes consolidated with estimated net loss totalled EUR 319 million.

Medium- and long-term external debt at end-June 2011 stood at EUR 75,665 million (77.9 percent of total external debt), 4 percent above the level recorded at end-2010.

Short-term external debt at end-June 2011 totalled EUR 21,456 million (22.1 percent of total external debt), up 18.4 percent from end-2010.

Romania's external debt at end-June 2011*
and external debt service in January-June 2011
- EUR million -
  External debt External debt service
January-June 2011p
End-2010r End-June 2011p
I. Medium- and long-term external debt 72,788 75,665 5,436
I.1. Direct public debta) 16,022 18,926 881
I.2. Publicly guaranteed debtb) 1,708 1,585 118
I.3. Non-publicly guaranteed debt 37,748 36,979 3,905
I.4. Medium- and long-term deposits of non-residents 8,228 8,627 403e
I.5. IMF borrowingsc) 9,082 9,548 129
II. Short-term external debt 18,120 21,456 11,077e
Total external debt (I+II) 90,908 97,121 16,513

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