Romania posts 10-year high trade gap in 2018 of EUR 15.1 bln

Romania’s exports of goods increased by 8.1 percent last year to EUR 67.7 billion but were largely outpaced by imports which rose by 9.6 percent to 82.9 billion, government data showed on Monday. The trade gap rose by 17 percent up to EUR 15.1 billion, the highest level since 2008.

In December 2018, Romania’s exports increased by 2.4 percent up to EUR 4.6 billion while imports rose by 3.5 percent to EUR 6.3 billion.

According to National Institute of Statistics (INS), the trade deficit widened by 6.6 percent year-on-year in December to EUR 1.7 billion, the second-largest monthly deficit in 2018.

In 2017, Romania’s trade gap surged 30 percent to EUR 12.96 billion, as the government adopted during the last few years a strategy of wage-led growth, stimulating household consumption and GDP growth rates.

But this model has generated larger fiscal and current account deficits and experts insist Romania should change the economic model in order to obtain real long-term economic and social development.