In January – May 2024p, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 9,175 million, compared with EUR 6,879 million in January – May 2023. The breakdown shows that the deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 1,428 million, the surplus on services fell by EUR 710 million, the primary income deficit increased by EUR 714 million, while the secondary income surplus grew by EUR 556 million. Non-residents’ direct investmente in Romania totalled EUR 3,342 million (compared with EUR 2,465 million in January – May 2023), of which equity (including the estimated net reinvestment of earnings) and intercompany lending recorded net values of EUR 2,930 million and EUR 412 million, respectively. In January – May 2024, total external debt increased by EUR 5,670 million to EUR 175,753 million, of which: long-term external debt at end-May 2024 ran at EUR 130,997 million (74.5 percent of total external debt), up 7.6 percent against end-2023; short-term external debt at end-May 2024 amounted to EUR 44,756 million (25.5 percent of total external debt), down 7.4 percent from end-2023. Long-term external debt service ratio stood at 13.8 percent in May 2024 against 16.7 percent in 2023. At end-May 2024, goods and services import cover ran at 6.2 months, as compared to 5.6 months at end-2023. At end-May 2024, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 113.7 percent, as against 96.3 percent at end-2023.
Romania was formally designated the 43rd country to join the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) on Friday, January 10. According to the Romanian ambassador to Washington, Andrei Muraru, Romanian citizens will be able to travel to the US without the need for a visa starting March 31, 2025. "Romania becomes the first country in the […]
Cluj-Napoca, the city in Romania with some of the highest rents and a fast-growing IT industry, is closer to banning smoking in playgrounds and parks after mayor Emil Boc expressed his support for the measure. The mayor cited the prioritization of public health as the reason behind such a ban. He mentioned that he has […]
Romania's Sibiu County Emergency Clinical Hospital will receive a robotic system to prepare cytostatic drugs needed by cancer patients, along with other equipment, after the County Council obtained funds from the European Regional Development Fund. With an estimated value of EUR 1 million, the "Robotic Composition System for Sterile Preparations of Cytostatic Drugs" is among […]
Romania’s government adopted in its January 10 meeting a decision granting an extra day off to public sector employees at the beginning of May. Thus, Friday, May 2, will be an official day off for public sector workers, linking the legal holiday of May 1 (Labor Day) with the weekend (May 3-4). This...
The Ministry of Environment announced that 2024 was the hottest year in the history of Romania's meteorological records. Red alerts for heat waves began in June of 2024, with the longest consecutive periods of persistent and intense heat waves, six consecutive days, between July 13-18 and August 15-20. "The year 2024 is the hottest year...
Supporters of former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu gathered outside the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, which houses the Constitutional Court, on January 10, demanding a rerun of the second round of the presidential elections. The protest, dubbed "The Great Judicial Union," was initiated by Georgescu, who called on his supporters to challenge the election annulment, as […]
