In January 2025, Romania’s balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 1,646 million, compared with EUR 1,420 million in January 2024, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) reported on Monday.

A breakdown shows that the deficit in trade in goods widened by EUR 719 million, the surplus on services fell by EUR 87 million, the primary income balance made a positive contribution of EUR 654 million, while the secondary income surplus decreased by EUR 74 million.

In January 2025, total external debt decreased by EUR 1,632 million to EUR 201,943 million, of which long-term external debt at end-January 2025 ran at EUR 153,461 million (76% of total external debt), down 0.6% against end-2024; short-term external debt at end-January 2025 amounted to EUR 48,482 million (24% of total external debt), down 1.3 % from end-2024.

Long-term external debt service ratio stood at 8.8% in January 2025 as against 16.5% in 2024. At end-January 2025, goods and services import cover ran at 5.9 months, as against 5.8 months in late 2024.

As of end-January 2025, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 98.6%, as against 100.3% at end-2024.

AGERPRES