Romania’s current account deficit rose to 1.56 billion euro in the first three months of 2006, up 59.6% compared to the similar period in 2005, according the Romanian National Bank – BNR. The rise was caused by a higher trade balance deficit. Meanwhile, the medium and long-term foreign debt rose 0.7% to 24.7 billion euro by March 31 this year, compared to December 31, 2005.
BNR provisional data say the goods trade deficit rose from 1.06 billion euro to 1.69 billion in the mentioned period, while the services rtose from a deficit of 119 million euro in Q1 2005 to an excedent of 11 million in Q1 2006.
The favorable evolution was the result of a positive sold reported by the tourism-travel and other services, while transport services reported a deficit of 66 million euro.
The current account deficit has been fully covered by an FDI volume of 1.7 billion euro, compared to 0.7 billion in Q1 2005.
