Exports overshoot 2bn-euro mark

September witnessed the highest value of exports in the last 16 years, with commodities sold abroad by Romanian companies exceeding 2.06bn euros, the National Statistics Institute says. Total exports in the first nine months amounted to 16.4bn euros, an increase of 17% on the same time in 2004. Compared with the same month of last year, exports in September 2005 were 21% higher. The statistical data exceed the estimates of the National Forecast Commission, which had announced 1.9bn euros in exports for September. “The development of the foreign trade is in line with our forecasts, though,” Ion Ghizdeanu, the chairman of the Forecast Commission told Ziarul Financiar. He added the record export value in September had to have been based on an industrial output rebound, which he expected the Statistics Institute to verify when releasing the September bulletin. Imports in September fell below the threshold estimated by the National Forecast Commission, which expected 2.9bn euros. They amounted to 2.84bn euros in September and exceeded 23bn euros for nine months, up 23% on the same time in 2004. ZF