In January - August 2024, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 17,858 million, compared with EUR 13,830 million in January - August 2023, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) informs in a press release on Monday.The breakdown shows that the deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 2,634 million, the surplus on services fell by EUR 863 million, the primary income deficit increased by EUR 979 million, while the secondary income surplus grew by EUR 448 million.Non-residents' direct investments in Romania totalled EUR 4,139 million (compared with EUR 4,382 million in January - August 2023), of which equity (including the estimated reinvestment of earnings) and intercompany lending recorded net values of EUR 3,563 million and EUR 576 million, respectively.In January - August 2024, total external debt increased by EUR 14,189 million to EUR 182,524 million, of which: long-term external debt at end-August 2024 ran at EUR 133,389 million (73.1 percent of total external debt), up 9.2 percent against end-2023; short-term external debt at end-August 2024 amounted to EUR 49,135 million (26.9 percent of total external debt), up 6.3 percent from end-2023.Long-term external debt service ratio stood at 13.8 percent in August 2024 against 18 percent in 2023. At end-August 2024, goods and services import cover ran at 5.9 months, as compared to 5.6 months at end-2023.At end-August 2024, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania's foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 101.1 percent, as against 99.7 percent at end-2023, the central bank points out.
Under 150,000 non-EU workers are currently in Romania, helping the country deal with an acute labor shortage that has been ongoing for years. The government is also set to approve a quota of 100,000 foreign workers in 2025. According to data provided by the Labor Inspection, the number of active individual employment contracts held by […]
Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan recently stated that conservation and protection works at Hanul Solacolu are continuing with a focus on the first-floor level of the main building and the installation of the first beams that will support the temporary roof. The building dating back to 1859 is one of the capital’s iconic buildings, and was […]
More than 390,000 people visited the retrospective dedicated to the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi at the Centre Pompidou in 2024, the museum announced. The show, which closed its doors on July 1 of last year, had a daily average of nearly 5,000 entries, the institution said. Overall, the Centre Pompidou welcomed 3,204,369 visitors in 2024, […]
The Romanian-American actor Sebastian Stan won his first Golden Globe for his role in the film A Different Man. In his acceptance speech, the artist thanked the people on his team and the film crew, as well as his parents, and concluded his speech by saying “România, te iubesc” (Romania, I love you). In the […]
Former Liberal (PNL) president Crin Antonescu declared his presidential candidacy "unilaterally suspended." Antonescu had accepted to run for president after the proposal of the ruling coalition formed by the Liberals (PNL), Social Democrats (PSD), the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), and the minorities' group in Parliament. Antonescu confirmed his commitment to running in […]
The decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR) to annul the presidential elections is considered by most respondents (28%) as the most important event of the year 2024 in Romania, according to an IRES telephone survey. CCR's decision to cancel the first round of the presidential elections is considered good by just over a third […]
