Romania added EUR 15.6% (7.1% of GDP) to its external debt in 2020. The total external debt thus hit EUR 125.4 bln or 57% of GDP, Romania's National Bank (BNR) announced.

The external direct public debt rose by some EUR 18 bln (8.2% of GDP) to EUR 57.2 bln.

The increase in direct public debt came from the Finance Ministry's bond issues in foreign markets, with a face value of EUR 8.8 bln and USD 3.3 bln (equivalent to EUR 2.7 bln) respectively, as well as from net borrowings of EUR 3 bln and price changes of securities, worth approximately EUR 1.96 bln, a BNR statement reads.

Meanwhile, the publicly unsecured debt, held by banks and companies, reached EUR 32.7 bln (nearly 17% of GDP) at the end of 2020, down EUR 902 mln from the end of 2019.

Of the total external debt, the long-term external debt increased by 22.8% year-on-year to EUR 91.27 bln (72.8% of total) while the short-term external debt edged down by 3.6% year-on-year to EUR 34.2 bln (27.2% of total).

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andrei@romania-insider.com