Romania Trade Deficit Widens To EUR3.3B In First Half

08.10.2015 By Bogdan Neagu

Romania’s imports grew more quickly than exports in the first half of the year and the country’s trade deficit widened to 3.29 billion euros, the statistics office INS said Monday.

In January-June 2014, the trade gap was EUR2.85 billion.

Imports rose 6.9% on the year to EUR30.32 billion, while exports were 5.9% higher, at EUR27.03 billion, the data showed.

Vehicles amounted to 44.6% of overall exports and 36.7% of the imports in the first six months, while other manufactured items made up for 33.2% of Romanian exports and 31.5% 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-June period.

In June alone, exports were at EUR4.77 billion, up 12.4% on the year, while imports rose 14.4% to EUR5.49 billion. Therefore, the June trade gap was EUR719.9 billion, from EUR556.4 billion in the same month of 2014.

Compared with May, the exports were up 6.3%, while imports rose 9%.

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.