In January – March 2025, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 7,656 million, compared with EUR 4,201 million in the same year-ago period, according to the data the National Bank of Romania (BNR) published on Wednesday.

The breakdown shows that the deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 1,997 million, the surplus on services fell by EUR 503 million, the primary income deficit decreased by EUR 140 million, while the secondary income balance made a negative contribution of EUR 1,095 million.

In January – March 2025, total external debt rose by EUR 514 million to EUR 205,407 million, of which: long-term external debt at end-March 2025 ran at EUR 156,881 million (76.4 percent of total external debt), up 1.2 percent against end-2024; short-term external debt at end-March 2025 amounted to EUR 48,526 million (23.6 percent of total external debt), down 2.7 percent from end-2024.

Long-term external debt service ratio stood at 11.5 percent in January – March 2025 against 19.6 percent in 2024. At end-March 2025, goods and services import cover ran at 5.7 months, a level similar to that of 31 December 2024.

At end-March 2025, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 101.4 percent, as against 99.1 percent at end-2024.

AGERPRES