Romania’s trade deficit rose 14 pct in Jan-Aug on higher imports

Romania’s exports of goods increased by 9.7 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of this year up to EUR 45 billion, but were outpaced by imports which rose by 10.4 percent, government data showed on Wednesday.

According to National Institute of Statistics (INS), the trade deficit widened by 14 percent during the first eight months of this year up to EUR 8.98 billion.

In August, exports rose by 4.3 percent year-on-year to EUR 5.1 billion – the lowest monthly value in 2018 -, while imports increased by 9 percent to EUR 6.5 billion.

In March 2018, Romania’s exports reached for the first time in history the EUR 6 billion threshold, rising to EUR 6.1 billion.

Romania’s trade gap surged 30 percent in 2017 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.

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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.