C/A gap - Romania's current account gap widens 66% last year on sharp commercial deficit

The C/A gap stands for 14.3 percent of the gross domestic product and it narrowed a bit versus the 72.6 percent seen in the first eleven months last year, when it stood at 15.3 billion euros.

Romania’s GDP was estimated at 393.24 billion lei for 2007, according to the European statistics body, Eurostat. The central bank’s recent estimates placed the C/A deficit for 2007 at 14.2 percent of the GDP.

The worrying C/A gap stemmed from the sharp commercial balance deficit of 17.586 billion euros, 50 percent higher than last year, the central bank said according to a release.

The services balance saw surplus of 265 million euros last year, over the 4 million euros in 2006, despite gaps in transportation and tourism.

Revenues to the public budget saw a 35.6 wider deficit last year, to 4.4 billion euros and spending continued to grow.