Romania was more indebted at the end of August this year than at the end of last year. Its total external debt reached EUR 96.6 billion end-August this year, up EUR 4.2 billion compared to end-2010.

The biggest part of the growth came from the medium and long-term debt, which stood at EUR 75.6 billion. It covered 78.2 percent of the total external debt and was 3.7 percent above the level recorded at end-2010. The short-term external debt totaled EUR 21 billion, up 7.8 percent from end-2010.

The country paid EUR 24 billion of its external debt from January to August this year. The medium- and long-term external debt service ratio ran at 22.8 percent in January-August 2011, against 33.4 percent in 2010.

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com