The current account of the balance of payments recorded, in the period January – March 2024, a deficit of 3.945 billion euros, 0.48% lower compared to the one of 3.964 billion euros in the period January – March 2023, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) informs on Tuesday.

In its structure, the goods balance recorded a larger deficit by 8 million euros, the services balance recorded a smaller surplus by 434 million euros, the primary income balance recorded a larger deficit by 382 million euros, and the secondary income balance recorded a surplus greater by 843 million euros.

Between January and March 2024, the total external debt increased by 7.643 billion euros, up to 177.726 billion euros. In the structure, the long-term external debt amounted to 129.063 billion euros on March 31, 2024 (72.6% of the total external debt), an increase of 6% compared to December 31, 2023. The short-term external debt recorded on March 31 2024 the level of 48.663 billion euros (27.4% of the total external debt), increasing by 0.7% compared to December 31, 2023.

The long-term external debt service rate was 15.5% in March 2024, compared to 16.7% in 2023. The degree of coverage of imports of goods and services on March 31, 2024 was 6.1 months, in compared to 5.6 months on December 31, 2023.

The degree of coverage of the short-term external debt, calculated at the residual value, with foreign exchange reserves at the BNR on March 31, 2024 was 102.6%, compared to 96.3% on December 31, 2023.

AGERPRES