Foreign debt rises 40% in one year to 44.8bn euros

Romania’s medium and long-term foreign debt reached 44.8 billion euros at the end of the first half, an increase of 42% against the same time in 2007, while the current account deficit rose by 8% and reached almost 8 billion euros, NBR data reveals. Foreign debt has increased by 16.6% since the beginning of the year alone, fuelled both by financing secured by banks and private companies and by loans taken out by the state. The foreign public and publicly secured debt totalled 10.39 billion euros on June 30, accounting for 23.2% of the medium and long-term foreign debt (compared with 26.7% on December 31, 2007). The non-publicly secured foreign debt amounted to 28.45 billion euros at the end of the first half, up 14.1% compared to December 2007.