Romania\u2019s trade deficit (goods only) widened by nearly 33% y\/y in April-May, as exports contracted by 2.1% y\/y while imports increased by 5.3% y\/y, according to data published by the statistics office INS.<\/p>\n
The short-term dynamics reflect the industry\u2019s modest performance and the robust private consumption (retail sales), while from a broader perspective, the country\u2019s external balance is slightly improving after the energy (natural gas, crude oil) price shock in 2022\/2023 while remaining deep in the deficit area.<\/p>\n
While the exports\u2019 modest performance is not something new (-3.4% y\/y in Q1) and is in line with the modest performance of industry across the whole of Europe, the imports gain momentum from -3.2% y\/y in Q1 as the private consumption remains robust as the non-food sales grew by double-digit annual rates (volume terms) in both Q1 and April-May period.<\/p>\n
On a broader perspective, the exports in the twelve months to May decreased by 2.9% y\/y to EUR 91.95 billion, while the imports contracted by 3.9% y\/y to EUR 122.13 billion.<\/p>\n
The trade deficit thus narrowed slightly by 6.8% y\/y to EUR 30.2 billion, which, in the general (although diminishing) inflationary context, indicates certain improvement in the country\u2019s external position that remains deep in the deficit area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The trade gap (goods) to GDP ratio thus eased to 9.1% in the twelve months to May 2024, down from 11% calculated a year earlier.<\/p>\n