Romania’s gross external debt exceeds EUR 157 bln at the end of May

In January-May 2023, Romania’s total external debt increased by EUR 12,533 mln to EUR 157.1 bln, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) announced.

The long-term external debt in end-May 2023 ran at EUR 110,784 mln (70.5% of total external debt), up 13.4% against the end of 2022. The short-term external debt amounted to EUR 46,310 mln (29.5% of total external debt), down 1.1% from the end of 2022.

The external debt service in January-May was EUR 31,765 mln, of which EUR 24,937 mln was the long-term debt service and EUR 6,828 mln was the short-term debt service.

The long-term external debt service ratio stood at 12.9% in January-May 2023 against 16.2% in 2022.

At end-May 2023, goods and services import cover stood at 5.1 months, compared to 4.4 months at the end of 2022.

At the end of May 2023, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 90.1%, as against 80.2% at end-2022.

The long-term external debt service ratio is calculated as a ratio of long-term external debt service to exports of goods and services. Import cover is calculated as a ratio of international reserves (foreign exchange + gold) at the end of the period to average monthly imports of goods and services for the period under review.

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