Romania's external debt grows while weight of short – term loans down

The external debt accumulated by Romania grew to EUR 94.3 billion in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 2.7 percent on the level registered at the end of 2010, according to data from the Romanian central Bank (BNR). Around 80 percent of the debt is represented by medium and long – term debt, while the short – term debt's weight went down to 20.5 percent. At the end of March, Romania had EUR 19.13 billion in short – term debt, an increase of 3.7 percent compared to the end of last year. The country's direct public debt, which includes foreign loans contracted by the Finance Ministry and by local authorities, was of EUR 17.13 billion, up 6.9 percent. The publicly – guaranteed external debt was slightly down, to EUR 37.33 billion. Medium and long-term loans of non-residents in Romania reached EUR 8.5 billion, up from EUR 8.2 billion at the end of last year. Romania managed to service 17.9 percent of its debt in the first quarter of the year, compared to 33.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010. editor@romania-insider.com