Romanian Trade Deficit Up 70%

The Romanian Trade deficit rose to EUR 4.05 billion in late March, up 72.1 percent from the first quarter of 2006.

The National Institute of Statistics said Romania waived customs duties following EU accession and shifted to the single trade policy of the European Union. A significant share of the deficit reported for the first three months (approx. EUR 3 billion) was triggered by exchanges with EU Member States, which account for over 70 percent of the country’s foreign trade.

Exports went up by 8.4 percent in RON (14.2 percent in EUR) and imports picked up 23.6 percent in RON (30.1 percent in EUR) compared with the corresponding period of 2006. Increases in noon-food products tariffs pushed up inflation by 0.52 percent in April, while consumer prices also picked up by 0.52 percent, the highest monthly increase this year. The annualised inflation went up from 3.66 percent in March to 3.77 percent in April. The overall average price rise over the past 12 months (May 2006 – April 2007) as against the previous 12 months (May 2005 – April 2006) calculated against the CPI is 5.1 percent, and the increase calculated against the harmonised index of consumer prices is 5.2 percent.