Romania’s trade gap widened by 30% y/y in February and by 50% y/y to nearly €4.6bn (almost 2% of GDP) in the first two months of the year. The trade gap in the rolling 12 months to February reached €25.2bn or 10% of GDP.

The external deficit is among the key elements that keep the country from getting a better sovereign rating, besides the public deficit. The inflation, driven by rising commodity prices, has a magnifying impact on the country’s foreign trade — exports, imports and deficit — but, eventually, it will diminish the domestic consumption with a positive impact on the trade gap. 

Romania’s exports increased by 21.9% y/y in February and by 23.4% y/y to €13.8bn in the first two months of the year, the statistics office announced.

The food exports surged by 55% y/y to account for 8.3% of total exports in the two months. Exports of animal and vegetable oils nearly quadrupled — although on a low base — to account for 0.6% of exports. The export of mineral fuels doubled to account for 4.9% of total exports.

The country’s imports increased by 23.8% y/y in February and by 28.9% y/y to €18.4bn in January-February.

Import of mineral fuels surged by 2.4 times to account for 10.2% of total imports.

The import of chemicals, a major item in the structure of Romania’s imports, increased by 45% y/y and accounted for 16.2% of total imports.

Only the machinery and transport equipment section are more substantial on both the exports and the imports side (43% of exports and 33% of imports respectively).