Romania’s current account balance of payment registered a deficit of EUR 9.42 billion last year, up 57.7 percent against 2017, while the foreign direct investment (FDI) increased by 2.9 percent to EUR 4.94 billion, according to the National Bank of Romania (BNR).
„The deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 2.628 billion, the surplus on services income narrowed by EUR 102 million, the deficit of the primary income balance increased by EUR 322 million, and the surplus of the secondary income balance decreased by EUR 394 million,” the central bank said on Wednesday, in a press release.
Romania’s current account deficit has exceeded last year the warning threshold of 4 percent of GDP, the current estimate indicating a level of 4.7 percent of GDP – at a projected GDP of around EUR 200 billion.
The main source of the large external deficit is the negative trade balance.
Last year, the current account balance of payments registered a deficit of EUR 5.97 billion, or 3.2 percent of GDP.Read more aboutFDI trends useful for Romania: Regionalization of trade and investment read more
On the other hand, non-residents’ direct investment in Romania totalled EUR 4.94 billion in 2018, compared with EUR 4.78 billion in 2017, “of which equity (including estimated net reinvestment of earnings) amounted to EUR 4.042 billion and intercompany lending recorded a net value of EUR 894 million,” BNR indicates.
