Romania’s external debt up 4.4 pct in 7 months to EUR 97.6 bln on soaring short-term credit

Romania’s total external debt grew by 4.4 percent in the first seven months of this year compared with December 2017, to EUR 97.58 billion, due mainly to rising short-term debt, National Bank of Romania (BNR) data show.

Long-term public debt declined by EUR 371 million, to EUR 33.163 billion at the end of July, while the non-publicly guaranteed debt (mostly private) declined by EUR 1.29 million, to EUR 32.616 billion.

The total long-term external debt amounted to EUR 66.959 billion in July, down 2.4 percent compared with December 2017.

But the short-term external debt increased by 23.2 percent to EUR 30.62 billion.

The external rate service ratio on the long term was 22.5 percent in January-July, compared with 23.9 percent in 2017.

The coverage level of goods and services imports at end-July was 4.7 months, compared with 5.4 months in December 2017, according to the central bank.