Foreign debt tending to $10bn

Romania’s foreign debt last year went up 9%, reaching $9,917bn by December 31, the National Bank of Romania informs. The medium and long-term foreign debt, which is the highest, increased 9.7% reaching $9,555 million, while the short-term debt went down 6.2% reaching $361 million.

The foreign debt service rate, calculated as a ratio of the foreign debt service and the export of goods and services, significantly improved last year, going down to 17.9%, as compared to 35.9% in 1999.

This trend was due both to the jump of exports, which rose 21.9%, and to the decrease in the foreign debt service from $3,548 million in 1999, to $2,170 million in 2000.