Romania owes more than EUR 98 bln to the rest of the world

Romania’s total external declined by 0.8 percent in January up to EUR 98.39 billion, due mainly to lower public debt, National Bank of Romania (BNR) data show. The debt accounts now less that 50 percent of GDP.

At the end of last year, Romania’s total external debt – public and private – was EUR 99.2 billion.

Long-term public debt declined in January by EUR 483 million, to EUR 34.28 billion, while the non-publicly guaranteed debt (mostly private) declined by EUR 87 million, to EUR 32.05 billion.

The total long-term external debt amounted to EUR 67.53 billion at the end of January, down 0.6 percent compared with December 2018.

In the same time, the short-term external debt declined by EUR 427 million in January to EUR 30.86 billion.

The external rate service ratio on the long term was 13.2 percent in January, compared with 20.7 percent in 2018.

The coverage level of goods and services imports at end-January was 4.8 months, compared with 4.9 months in December 2018, according to the central bank.