Romania’s Trade Deficit Reaches EUR 31 Billion

Romania’s trade deficit, one of the most important economic indicators for the strength of any country’s economy, skyrocketed in 2022. The trade deficit in the first 11 months of 2022 reached 31 billion euros. This is the official data published by the National Institute for Statistics – INS.

In the first 11 months of 2022, the trade deficit increased by 9.65 billion euros, meaning 45.2%, compared to the same period in 2021.

In the first 11 months of the previous year, FOB exports reached the value of 8.5 billion euros (+25.1% compared to the same period in 2021), and CIF imports reached 11.6 billion euros (+29.9 %). Notably, the imports grow more than the exports, which is not good news for the Romanian economy.

The trade deficit widens as months pass by, but the Government doesn’t seem to act toward reversing this trend. No laws or regulations encourage exports, while imports are encouraged by internal demand.

The trade deficit is going to increase even more, and this is to impact the local economy but also the state budget. Interestingly enough, the main shares in the structure of exports and imports are held by the product groups: machines and transport equipment (41.7% for export and 32.7% for import) and other manufactured products (30% for export and 28.6% for import)