Balance of payments and external debt - August 2015 (National Bank of Romania statement):

In January - August 2015, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 585 million as compared with EUR 1,144 million in the same year-ago period, amid the widening of the secondary income and services surpluses (by EUR 551 million and EUR 465 million, respectively), together with the narrowing of the primary income deficit (by EUR 372 million).

Non-residents direct investment in Romania (estimates) totalled EUR 2,299 million, of which equity (including estimated net reinvestment of earnings) amounted to EUR 1,453 million and intercompany lending to EUR 846 million (net).

Long-term external debt at end-August 2015 stood at EUR 70,126 million (78.1 percent of total external debt), down 7.5 percent from end-2014.

Short-term external debt at end-August 2015 amounted to EUR 19,648 million (21.9 percent of total external debt), up 3.9 percent from end-2014.

In the period under review, total external debt declined by EUR 4,970 million.

Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 37.5 percent in January-August 2015 against 38.6 percent in 2014. At end-August 2015, goods and services import cover stood at 6.1 months, as compared with 6.8 months at end-2014.