Trade deficit up to 20% of GDP

The trade deficit exceeds 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the INS data shows. The average 40 percent year-on-year widening of the deficit is due to Romania’s developing needs, which includes technology imports, and major consumption of imported goods.

In 2007, imports rose 25 percent year-on-year, double that of the 13.7 percent increase in exports. The only month when this trend was reverted was December 2007, with a 15.1 percent annual surge in exports and a 6.5 percent increase in imports, resulting from a sudden depreciation of the leu to the euro - 14 percent since August, which helped exporters, while increasing the price of imported goods.

A constant exchange rate of above RON3.6/ €1 would further promote exports and Romania could exit EU’s top five wide deficit countries, experts say.