Romania Trade Deficit Widens To EUR2.6B In First 5 Months

07.10.2015 By Bogdan Neagu

Romania’s imports grew more quickly than exports in the first five months of the year and the country’s trade deficit widened to 2.57 billion euros, the statistics office said Friday.

In January-May 2014, the trade gap was EUR2.29 billion.

Imports rose 5.4% on the year to EUR24.8 billion, while exports were 4.7% higher, at EUR22.3 billion, the data showed.

Vehicles amounted to 44.3% of overall exports and 36.7% of the imports in the first five months, while other manufactured items made up for 33.3% of Romanian exports and 31.4% of imports.

The European Union is the main trade partner of Romania, receiving 73.6% of the country’s exports and accounting for 76.9% of imports in the January-May period.

In May alone, exports were at EUR4.48 billion, up 3.2% on the year, while imports rose by a similar percentage to EUR5.03 billion. Therefore, the May trade gap was EUR547.3 billion, from EUR532 billion in the same month of 2014.

Compared with April, the exports were up 2%, but imports fell 0.2%.

In 2014, Romania’s exports reached a record high EUR52.5 billion but the country’s trade deficit still widened slightly as a rebound in domestic consumption fueled a rise in imports, also to a record high of EUR58.5 billion.