Romania attracts 29 pct more FDI in first 9 months

Non-residents’ direct investment in Romania reached EUR 1.1 billion in the first 9 months of 2012, up from EUR 861 million in January – September 2011, according to data released by the National Bank of Romania.

PM Victor Ponta previously said that the volume of foreign direct investments attracted by Romania in 2012 is estimated to be below or at roughly the same level as in 2011 which was EUR 1.8 billion. He said the situation “is rather bad”, but there are more optimistic estimations for 2013 due to expected investments in the energy sector. FDI to Romania dropped by about 22 percent in 2011 y-o-y.

The FDI attracted in the first 9 months of 2012 covered 30.2 percent of the current account deficit in for the same period. Out of the total figure, equity stakes consolidated with the estimated net loss amounted to EUR 556 million and intra-group loans2 to EUR 553 million.

For the same period, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 3.6 billion, down 23.2 percent y-o-y, due to the decrease in the income deficit (by EUR 624 million) as well as to the increase in the current transfers surplus (EUR 381 million) and in the services surplus (EUR 320 million), according to the central bank.

Medium- and long-term external debt at end-September 2012 stood at EUR 77.5 billion (78.2 percent of total external debt), 2.1 percent above the level recorded at end-2011.

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Short-term external debt at end-September 2012 totaled EUR 21.5 billion (21.8 percent of total external debt), down 5.4 percent from end-2011.

Medium- and long-term external debt service ratio ran at 29.3 percent in January – September 2012, against 28.9 percent in 2011. At end-September 2012, goods and services import cover stood at 7.5 months, remaining flat as compared to end-2011.

Simona Bazavan