Romania's trade deficit widens to EUR 20bn y/y in 2007 on rising imports

Romania's commercial gap, or the deficit of exports versus imports, widened to 19.4 billion euros in the first eleven months of 2007, year-on-year, on hiking imports, the European statistics body Eurostat said.

The gap stood at 12.8 billion euros in the first eleven months of 2006. Romania's trade gap widened to 0.6 billion euros in December versus November 2007 when it was of 0.5 billion euros, the statistics report showed.

Exports rose 14 percent to 27.1 billion euros in the first eleven months of 2007 versus the same period of the previous year. However, imports rose at a swifter pace of 27 percent in the first eleven months in 2007 to 47 billion euros.

Exports fell 2.3 percent in December versus November to 0.7 billion euros, while imports increased 2.5 percent to 1.3 billion euros.

Financial services provider Coface estimated at the end of last month Romania's economic growth should lower to 5.2 percent this year, due to the widening of the macroeconomic unbalances.

Romania's economic trumps are the "relatively large" domestic market, still reduced costs of labor force, low public debt, large foreign currency reserves and the capacity to draw a bulge of foreign direct investments which helped cover parts of the foreign deficit, Coface said.

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