Romania’s external debt up 2 pct in H1 to EUR 95.4 bln on rising short-term credit

Romania’s total external debt grew by 2 percent in the first six months of this year compared with December 2017, to EUR 95.37 billion, due mainly to rising short-term debt, National Bank of Romania (BNR) data show.

The public debt declined by EUR 590 million, to EUR 32.944 billion at the end of June, while the non-publicly guaranteed debt (mostly private) declined by EUR 1.14 million, to EUR 32.768 billion.

The long term external debt amounted to EUR 66.902 billion in June, down 2.5 percent compared with December 2017. The short term external debt increased by 14.5 percent to EUR 28.47 billion.

The external rate service ratio on the long term was 22.8 percent in January-June, compared with 23.9 percent in 2017.

The coverage level of goods and services imports at end-June was 4.9 months, compared with 5.4 months in December 2017, according to the central bank.