Romania’s trade deficit dropped by 17.6% to 25.555 billion euro in January-November 2023, the National Statistics Board (INS) data showed on Tuesday. Exports grew by 2% to 86.921 billion euro, while imports fell 3.2% to 112.477 billion euro. In November alone, exports decreased by 2.2% on an annual basis to 8.222 billion euro, while imports fell 3.9% to 10.579 billion euro.
The Romanian economy remains strongly anchored in the trade flows of the European Union
The European Union absorbed 72.8% of Romania’s exports in the period under review, and accounted for 73.5% of the country’s imports. Machinery and transport equipment represented 44.7% of Romania’s exports and 36.6% of imports, while other manufactured goods made up 30% of exports and 28.9% of imports in the first eleven months of 2023.
In the first three quarters of 2023, Romania’s economy increased by only 1.4% on an annual basis after the sluggish advance of just over 1% in Q2 2023 and Q3 2023.
The World Bank revised its projection for Romania’s economic growth downwards to 1.8% for 2023 and to 3.3% for 2024, respectively. Meanwhile, the global economy is set to rack up a sorry record by the end of 2024 —the slowest half-decade of GDP growth in 30 years, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report. Global trade growth in 2024 is expected to be only half the average in the decade before the pandemic.
“Near-term growth will remain weak, leaving many developing countries—especially the poorest—stuck in a trap: with paralyzing levels of debt and tenuous access to food for nearly one out of every three people” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President
