Romania’s foreign trade gap shrinks by 19% y/y in October

Romania’s foreign trade gap (goods) shrank by 19% y/y in October 2025, as the exports performed better than imports for the sixth month in a row: it increased by 5.1% y/y to EUR 8.87 billion, while the imports contracted by 2.4% y/y to EUR 11.88 billion, according to data published by the statistics office INS. In absolute terms, the trade gap was the third highest ever (EUR 3 billion), and the impressive one-fifth annual contraction was largely due to the high base – the gap reached the widest level (EUR 3.73 billion) in October 2024.

Romania’s chronic trade deficit shows some signs of improvement since it deteriorated significantly during 2022, driven by the rise in the price of imported energy goods and general subdued economic activity across Europe in the first months after Russia invaded Ukraine.