Balance of payments and external debt – March 2025
14.05.2025
In January – March 2025p, 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. 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.
Balance of payments current account (EUR million)
| |
January - March 2024 |
January - March 2025p |
| CREDIT
| DEBIT
| BALANCE
| CREDIT
| DEBIT
| BALANCE |
| CURRENT ACCOUNT (A+B+C)
| 36,001
| 40,202
| -4,201
| 36,374
| 44,030
| -7,656 |
| A. Goods and services
| 30,757
| 34,214
| -3,457
| 31,865
| 37,822
| -5,957 |
| a. Goods
| 21,506
| 27,853
| -6,347
| 22,074
| 30,418
| -8,344 |
| b. Services
| 9,251
| 6,361
| 2,890
| 9,791
| 7,404
| 2,387 |
| - manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
| 757
| 29
| 728
| 717
| 26
| 691 |
| - transport
| 2,241
| 1,139
| 1,102
| 2,333
| 1,240
| 1,093 |
| - tourism-travel
| 946
| 2,025
| -1,079
| 964
| 2,355
| -1,391 |
| - telecommunications, computer, and information services
| 2,541
| 973
| 1,568
| 2,635
| 1,130
| 1,505 |
| - other
| 2,766
| 2,195
| 571
| 3,142
| 2,653
| 489 |
| B. Primary income
| 2,911
| 4,612
| -1,701
| 3,063
| 4,624
| -1,561 |
| C. Secondary income
| 2,333
| 1,376
| 957
| 1,446
| 1,584
| -138 |
p - provisional data
Non-residents’ direct investmente in Romania totalled EUR 1,672 million (compared with EUR 2,481 million in January – March 2024), of which equity (including the estimated reinvestment of earnings) and intercompany lending recorded net values of EUR 2,979 million and EUR -1,307 million, respectively.
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.
Romania’s external debt and external debt service
| |
External debt |
External debt service, 3M 2025p |
| End-2024 |
End-March 2025p |
| 1. General government
| 107,361
| 109,993
| 2,388 |
| Currency and deposits
| 183
| 222
| 803 |
| Debt securities*
| 73,637
| 75,509
| 1,393 |
| Loans
| 17,213
| 17,876
| 155 |
| Trade credit and advances
| 396
| 455
| 37 |
| Other accounts payable
| 15,932
| 15,931
| 0 |
| 2. Central Bank
| 4,533
| 3,364
| 1,330 |
| Currency and deposits
| 1,122
| 22
| 1,302 |
| Debt securities
| 0
| 0
| 0 |
| Loans
| 0
| 0
| 0 |
| Allocation of SDRs
| 3,411
| 3,342
| 28 |
| Other accounts payable
| 0
| 0
| 0 |
| 3. Deposit taking corporations except the central bank
| 12,887
| 13,482
| 2,609 |
| Currency and deposits
| 7,265
| 7,664
| 2,512 |
| Debt securities
| 5,536
| 5,693
| 26 |
| Loans
| 0
| 0
| 0 |
| Other accounts payable
| 86
| 125
| 71 |
| 4. Other sectors
| 29,425
| 29,040
| 6,539 |
| Currency and deposits
| 0
| 0
| 0 |
| Debt securities
| 830
| 890
| 7 |
| Loans
| 14,980
| 14,438
| 3,370 |
| Trade credit and advances
| 13,285
| 13,375
| 3,117 |
| Other accounts payable
| 330
| 337
| 45 |
| I. EXTERNAL DEBT (1+2+3+4)**
| 154,206
| 155,879
| 12,866 |
| II. DIRECT INVESTMENT: INTERCOMPANY LENDING
| 50,687
| 49,528
| 9,642 |
TOTAL EXTERNAL DEBT (I+II)
of which:
| 204,893
| 205,407
| 22,508 |
| Short term
| 49,888
| 48,526
| 18,844 |
| Long term
| 155,005
| 156,881
| 3,664 |
p - provisional data
* include the liabilities related to the recording of EU funds on an accrual basis
**except debt instruments related to direct investment
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.
Methodological Notes
- Data are updated on a monthly basis. Data for the current period together with the revised data for the base period are available under External Sector -> Balance of Payments; historical monthly and quarterly data going back to 2005 are available in the Interactive database.
- The international methodological standard on balance of payments compilation is ensured by the IMF’s sixth edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). The BPM6 methodology has been transposed into the EU legislation based on Commission Regulation (EU) No 555/2012 amending Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment, as regards the update of data requirements and definitions.
- In order to analyse current account data, the following aspects should be considered:
- 3.1. Goods (on a BOP basis): Source: National Institute of Statistics – International Trade of Goods. Imports FOB are calculated by the NBR based on the CIF/FOB conversion factor set by the NIS. The balance of payments principle consists in entering goods based on the “change in economic ownership” criterion (goods acquired by residents are included, irrespective of whether the goods cross the country border or not), while in international trade statistics goods are recorded based on the “cross-border” criterion (goods are recorded when crossing the border, irrespective of whether they belong to residents or not). In order to ensure compliance with the “change in economic ownership” criterion, the NIS data are adjusted by the NBR, therefore the values of exports and imports of goods in the BOP statistics are different from those in the statistics on the international trade of goods;
- 3.2. Services: Source: Quarterly Survey on International Trade in Services;
- 3.3. Primary income: includes compensation of employees, investment income (direct investment, portfolio investment, other investment) and other primary income (taxes, subsidies);
- 3.4. Secondary income: includes current private transfers and transfers of the general government.
- Foreign direct investment: The permanent debt between affiliated financial intermediaries (banks, NBFIs) is not treated as direct investment, but recorded under financial account/other investment.
- The statistical standards for the external debt breakdown by institutional sector are provided by the IMF’s manuals External Debt Statistics Guide for Compilers and Users (2014), Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, 6th edition (BPM6) and System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA).
- Long-term external debt service ratio is calculated as a ratio of long-term external debt service to exports of goods and services.
- Import cover is calculated as a ratio of international reserves (foreign exchange + gold) at the end of period to average monthly imports of goods and services for the period under review.
- Short-term external debt by remaining maturity refers to the short-term external debt outstanding at the end of period plus the payments related to long-term external debt due in the following 12 months.
The next monthly press release on “Balance of payments and external debt” will be issued on 13 June 2025.