Romania's 2016 trade deficit 1.6 bln lei higher than the year before

Romania's trade balance deficit (FOB/CIF) hit 9.957 bln euro in 2016, by 1.591 bln euro higher than in the previous year, shows data released by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

In comparison with 2015, exports and imports increased last year by 5.1 pct and 7.0 pct, respectively. FOB exports totaled 57.385 billion euros, while CIF imports amounted to 6.734 billion euro. The product groups with a significant share in the country's trade were machines and transport equipment (47 pct for exports and 38 pct for imports) and other manufactured products (32.4 percent for exports and 31.0 percent for imports, respectively).

In December 2016, FOB exports stood at 4.311 billion euro, CIF imports amounted to 5.497 billion euro, resulting in a deficit of 1.185 billion euro.

In a Y-o-Y comparison, exports were 9.4 percent higher in December 2016 and imports advanced 7.5 percent.

The value of intra-Community trade in 2016 was 43.079 billion euro on the outbound and 51.948 billion euro on the inbound, accounting for 75.1 percent of total exports and 77.1 percent of total imports, respectively.

The amount of extra-Community exchanges of goods in 2016 was 14.307 bln euro for exports and 15.394 billion euro for imports, accounting for 24.9 percent of total exports and 22.9 percent of total imports, respectively.