Romania’s trade deficit, the largest in the last 30 years

By Edwig Ban
The lack of government incentives to promote exports and the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have led Romania to record the largest trade deficit in 30 years.
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the trade deficit reached 18.387 billion euros on December 31, 2020, higher by 1.088 billion euros than in 2019. Exports fell by 9.9% and imports -reduced by 6.6%, compared to 2019.
Last year, exports amounted to 62.175 billion euros, and imports amounted to 80.562 billion euros.
In December 2020, exports amounted to 5.071 billion euros, and imports F amounted to 7.023 billion euros, resulting in a deficit of 1.952 billion euros.
Compared to December 2019, exports in December 2020 increased by 5.1%, and imports increased by 6.4%.
According to INS data, last year, important shares in the structure of exports and imports are held by product groups: machinery and transport equipment (48.6% for exports and 37.1% for imports) and other manufactured products (30.3% for export and 30.2% for import).
The value of intra-EU trade in goods in 2020 was 45.790 billion euros in shipments and 59.248 billion euros in introductions, representing 73.6% of total exports and 73.5% of total imports.
The value of extra-EU27 trade in goods in 2020 was 16.385 billion euros in exports and 21.314 billion euros in imports, representing 26.4% of total exports and 26.5% of total imports.