State foreign debt costs climb to 788m euros in H1

The NBR has to make payments of instalments and interest rates on the foreign public debt worth almost 788m euros in the first half of 2010, with the sum being 21% higher than the one of the same period of 2009. The rising payment effort came as the state had borrowed heavily from abroad in the past year, particularly through the loan contracted last spring from the IMF, the EU and the World Bank. This March, Romania also raised one billion euros from international markets, by selling eurobonds. The NBR acts as an agent-bank for the state, making payments in international relations. The central accounts of the state Treasury are also held with the NBR, so that the state’s cash assets are reflected in the central bank’s balance sheet. Lucian Anghel, chief economist of BCR, the biggest domestic bank, says the issue of the cost at which the state borrows money is becoming ever more important as the debt rises.