According to the National Bank of Romania (BNR) data, in January – February 2024p, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 2,707 million, compared with EUR 2,171 million in January – February 2023. The breakdown shows that the deficit on trade in goods declined by EUR 39 million, the surplus on services fell by EUR 456 million, the primary income deficit increased by EUR 516 million, while the secondary income registered a surplus of EUR 345 million, compared to a deficit of EUR 52 million in the same year-ago period. Non-residents’ direct investmente in Romania totalled EUR 1,229 million (compared with EUR 1,345 million in January – February 2023), of which equity (including the estimated net reinvestment of earnings) and intercompany lending recorded net values of EUR 1,105 million and EUR 124 million, respectively. In January – February 2024, total external debt increased by EUR 6,766 million to EUR 176,849 million, of which: long-term external debt at end-February 2024 ran at EUR 128,439 million (72.6 percent of total external debt), up 5.5 percent against end-2023; short-term external debt at end-February 2024 amounted to EUR 48,410 million (27.4 percent of total external debt), up 0.2 percent from end-2023. Long-term external debt service ratio stood at 10.9 percent in February 2024 against 16.7 percent in 2023. At end-February 2024, goods and services import cover ran at 6.1 months, as compared to 5.6 months at end-2023. At end-February 2024, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 101.2 percent, as against 96.3 percent at end-2023.
Romanians showed up in record numbers to vote in the second round of the presidential elections, both in the country and abroad. The exit poll results presented on Sunday evening pointed to a strong lead for Bucharest’s pro-EU mayor Nicusor Dan (54%-46%), but are only relevant for the domestic vote. Both candidates claimed victory in […]
Romanians showed up in large numbers to vote in the second round of the country’s presidential elections, one of the most important democratic tests Romania has seen in the last three decades. At 14:00, exactly halfway through the voting process in the country, over 5.63 million Romanians have cast their votes, compared with 4.52 million […]
Romanians abroad have mobilized massively to vote in the second round of the country’s presidential elections. Update: By Sunday afternoon (15:00 Bucharest time), over 1.2 million Romanians have voted abroad for the country's next president. That's some 220,000 more votes than the overall total in the first round. The countries with the largest turnout are […]
Romanians abroad have mobilized massively to vote in the second round of the country’s presidential elections. The vote in Diaspora started on Friday morning, and by Saturday evening (at 19:00), over 609,000 Romanians had already cast their votes. The turnout is almost 90% higher than the one recorded at the same time in the first […]
It's almost impossible to think about anything not related to elections this weekend but if you should need some distraction, there are options. Happening now is the European Film Festival, screening recent productions from the continent, very varied in theme, tone, and genre. The fest is playing Bucharest, Sfântu Gheorghe and Timișoara until Sunday and […]
Modernization work is ready to start at Bucharest’s Henri Coandă International Airport, also known as the Otopeni Airport, following an investment of over RON 112.4 million (some EUR 22 million) led by the National Company Bucharest Airports (CNAB), news agency Agerpres reported. The company...
