National Bank of Romania reports January 2026 current account deficit narrows to EUR 977 million and external debt rises to EUR 229,333 million

The National Bank of Romania published provisional balance of payments and external debt data for January 2026. The current account deficit was EUR 977 million, compared with EUR 1,032 million in January 2025, while non-resident direct investment in Romania totalled EUR 429 million and total external debt increased by EUR 1,986 million to EUR 229,333 million by 31 January 2026. Year on year, the smaller current account deficit reflected a narrower goods deficit (EUR 2,305 million, improving from EUR 2,719 million) and a higher secondary income surplus (EUR 189 million from EUR 6 million), partly offset by a deterioration in the primary income balance (from a EUR 505 million surplus to a EUR 25 million deficit); the services surplus edged down to EUR 1,164 million from EUR 1,176 million. Direct investment was driven by net equity participation (including estimated reinvested earnings) of EUR 488 million and net negative intragroup loans of EUR 59 million. Of total external debt, long-term debt stood at EUR 181,719 million (79.2% of the total), up 1.3% versus 31 December 2025, while short-term debt was EUR 47,614 million (20.8%), down 0.6%; the long-term external debt service ratio was 11.8%, import cover was 7.2 months, and foreign exchange reserves covered short-term external debt at residual maturity by 109.6%. The next monthly “Balance of Payments and External Debt” press release is scheduled for 15 April 2026.