Romania's trade deficit increased by 30% y/y to €1.54bn in September, despite the robust performance of exports that marked a thin annual decrease of only 0.5%.
Exports edged down by 0.5% y/y to €6.07bn, marking a negative annual performance for the seventh month in a row.
In contrast, the imports strengthened by 4.4% y/y — the strongest performance since December 2019, to €7.61b.
In the third quarter of the year, the trade deficit widened moderately by 1.2% y/y to €4.38bn, as the exports recovered partly after the deep dive taken in Q2.
The performance of Romanian exports (-4.3% y/y in Q3) has been problematic since before the crisis that pushed them 33.6% down y/y in Q2.
Their recovery to positive growth rates is uncertain, depending on both the recovery in external markets and domestic investments.
The imports (-3.2% y/y in Q3), stimulated up by the net public spending (budget deficit) and by households maintaining certain confidence, are more likely to return to positive growth rates.