Romania Trade Balance September 2007

Romania's trade deficit widened in September as steadily rising inflation and the elimination of many EU trade barriers have reduced export competitiveness and boosted imports. The deficit widened to 1.69 billion euros ($2.49 billion) from 1.175 billion euros in September of last year, according to preliminary data from INSSE (the National Statistics Institute) last week. The deficit was however lower than the revised gap of 1.797 billion euros in August.


The trade deficit is the major factor widening Romania's current-account gap, and concern about the widening CA deficit lead Standard & Poor's to recently lower its outlook on Romania's sovereign credit rating for a second time since April.

Imports in September rose an annual 22.5 percent to 4.14 billion euros, while exports increased 11.1 percent to 2.45 billion euros. Imports from other EU countries rose 24 percent as exports to the bloc increased 9.5 percent.




In the first nine months of the year, the trade deficit widened to 15.07 billion euros from 9.55 billion euros in the same period of last year. Imports increased 27 percent and exports rose 11.7 percent.