Romania’s CA deficit narrows by 13% y/y in Q1, to 7.7% of GDP in rolling 12 months

Romania’s current account (CA) deficit narrowed by 13.3% y/y to EUR 5.34 billion in the first quarter of the year (Q1) and by 3.4% y/y to EUR 29.1 billion in 12 months to March 2026, according to data published by the National Bank of Romania (BNR). In broader terms, the narrowing of the CA deficit is also consistent with fiscal consolidation in Q1, when the public deficit halved to 1.0% of GDP from 2.2% in the same period of 2025.

The main driver for Romania’s CA deficit narrowing was the contraction of the import of goods, in both gross (-2.1% y/y) and net (-11.7% /y) import of goods, caused by subdued consumption and economic activity in Q1: the retail sales plunged by 5.8% y/y and the GDP contracted by 1.7% y/y.