Romania has to work on its competitiveness: In its trade with Hungary, the major winner is the latter, as it exported goods to Romania worth EUR 5.89 billion while importing goods worth only EUR 3.09 billion. That’s a EUR 2.8 billion trade deficit for Romania in 2020 alone.
The trade deficit of EUR 2.8 billion accounts for 1.3 percent of Romania’s GDP and 2 percent of Hungary’s GDP.
Romania closed 2020 with a negative current account balance of EUR 18.3 billion, up EUR 1 billion compared to 2019.
After analyzing Romania’s trade deficit, news portal Curs de Guvernare identified six problematic areas of trade the country needs to work on, as they are driving the country’s current account balance into the red.
Hungarian-Romanian trade is concentrated in eight key areas: electronics; fuel and minerals; pharmaceuticals; engines, turbines, and boilers; cereals; motor vehicles; plastic and plastic goods; and meat and animal products.
Curs de Guvernare’s analysis
identified six problematic areas
that resulted in a EUR 2 billion trade deficit with Hungary.
The biggest one is pharmaceuticals, with a EUR 460.3 million deficit, followed by electronics (EUR −453.3 million), fuel and minerals (EUR −395.7 million), cereals (EUR −336.8 million), and animal products (EUR −227.3 million).
The only area where Romania exported more to Hungary than it imported was the motor vehicle sector, which recorded a EUR 14.2 million surplus in the current account balance.
While specialists are aware of the problematic areas of Romanian trade, the current situation is quite surprising, considering the country’s conditions. For example, it is difficult to explain why Romania had to export paper goods worth EUR 41.7 million to Hungary and import goods in the same segment worth EUR 86.9 million. That data is especially odd considering Romania’s vast forests.
Title image: Pixabay
