Romania’s external debt approaches EUR 100 bln on rising short-term credit

Romania’s total external debt grew by 1.5 percent in the first ten months of this year compared with December 2017, to EUR 98.85 billion, due mainly to rising short-term debt, National Bank of Romania (BNR) data show.

Long-term public debt rose by EUR 854 million, to EUR 34.4 billion at the end of October, while the non-publicly guaranteed debt (mostly private) declined by EUR 1.1 million, to EUR 32.68 billion.

The total long-term external debt amounted to EUR 68.286 billion in October, down 0.35 percent compared with December 2017.

But the short-term external debt increased by 6 percent to EUR 30.57 billion.

The external rate service ratio on the long term was 20.6 percent in January-October, compared with 25 percent in 2017.

The coverage level of goods and services imports at end-october was 4.8 months, compared with 5.4 months in December 2017, according to the central bank.