Romania’s trade deficit in the 12 mont-period to April soared by 38% compared to the previous 12 months to reach EUR 26.6 bln, or 10.7% of the GDP, up from 8.8% of GDP in April 2021.

Detailed data for the first four months of the year show that the rising price of commodities is pushing up both exports and imports. The imports expanded by 24.3% YoY, while the exports increased by 20.4% YoY.

The ratio in April 2019, before the pandemic, was 7.9%.

In April 2022 alone, the trade gap widened by an impressive 65% YoY to EUR 2.8 bln as the exports increased by 10.4% YoY to EUR 6.89 bln but the imports surged more than twice faster by 21.8% YoY to EUR 9.71 bln.

The trade deficit thus diverged from the medium-term trend; it was slightly larger amid slightly less intense foreign trade activity compared to the previous months.

In the first four months of the year, the 25.5% rise in imports (to EUR 38.9 bln) was driven by the doubling of the imports of fuels to EUR 3.9 bln (9.9% of total imports) while the import of commodities classified in the category of “raw materials” surged by 34% YoY to EUR 7.7 bln or barely 20% of GDP.

On the exports side, the 20.7% rise (to EUR 28.9 bln) was helped by the 56% advance in the exports of raw food (animals included) to EUR 2.6% bln (9% of total exports) while other raw materials (non-food) increased by 574% YoY to EUR 1.3 bln (4.7% of total exports). The export of fuels also surged by 83% YoY to EUR 1.4 bln (4.9% of total exports). 

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Pixabay.com)