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Balance of Payments in 2008 Q1

15.05.2008

In 2008 Q1, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 3,519 million. Behind this development stood chiefly the wider trade deficit, which ran at EUR 3,863 million, up 9.9 percent from 2007 Q1.

                                                                                                                                      - EUR million -
  2007 Q1* 2008 Q1**
CREDIT DEBIT NET CREDIT DEBIT NET
CURRENT ACCOUNT (A+B+C)   11,137   14,310   -3,173   12,977   16,496   -3,519
A. Goods and services    8,911   12,140   -3,229   10,261   14,081   -3,820
a. Goods (exports fob - imports fob)***    7,019   10,533   -3,514    7,965  11,828   -3,863
b. Services    1,892     1,607      285    2,296    2,253        43
- transport      483       532       -49      609       616        -7
- tourism - travel      210       224       -14      264       303       -39
- other    1,199       851      348   1,423    1,334        89
B. Incomes     640    1,663  -1,023      520    1,654   -1,134
C. Current transfers   1,586       507   1,079    2,196       761    1,435
* revised data
** provisional data
*** Source: National Institute of Statistics; imports fob are calculated based on CIF/FOB conversion coefficient of 1.0834 set by the NIS.

Roughly 47.6 percent of the current account deficit were covered by inflows from foreign direct investment worth EUR 1,676 million in 2008 Q1. Equity stakes and reinvested earnings accounted for 57.2 percent of the total figure, with intra-group loans1 covering the remaining 42.8 percent.

Medium- and long-term external debt2 at end-March 2008 added 4.2 percent against end-2007 to EUR 39,948 million.

Public and publicly guaranteed external debt at end-March 2008 came in at EUR 10,445 million, accounting for 26.1 percent of medium- and long-term debt, compared with 27.1 percent at end-2007.

Non-publicly guaranteed external debt amounted to EUR 25,904 million at end-March 2008, standing 4.8 percent higher than at end-December 2007.

Romania's medium- and long-term external debt at end-March 2008* and external debt service in 2008 Q1

                                                                                                                                                                      - EUR million -
  Medium- and long-term external debt External debt service in 2008 Q1p
Balance at end-March 2007r Balance at end-March 2008p
1. DIRECT PUBLIC DEBTa) 7,299 7,519 132
2. PUBLICLY GUARANTEED DEBTb),
of which: 		3,097 2,926 140
- public sectorc) 2,961 2,794 138
- private sectord) 136 132 2
3. Non-publicly guaranteed debt 24,718 25,904 1,420
4. External debt (1+2+3) 35,114 36,349 1,692
5. Medium- and long-term deposits of non-residents 3,219 3,599 166e
Total external debt (4+5) 38,333 39,948 1,858

*) The balance of medium- and long-term external debt is cash-based (not including unmatured accrued interest).
a) external loans taken directly by the Ministry of Economy and Finance/local general government in compliance with the legislation on public debt
b) external loans guaranteed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance/local general government in compliance with the legislation on public debt
c) financial and non-financial corporations with majority state-owned capital
d) financial and non-financial corporations with majority private capital
r - revised data
p - provisional data
e - estimates

In 2008 Q1, import cover4 stood at 5.8 months as against 6 months at year-end 2007.

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 the NBR's official reserves (foreign exchange + gold
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