Romania's external balance on goods and services (% of GDP) was -5.25% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 4.42 percentage points from -0.82% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | -5.25% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | -4.42% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | -0.82% | 2015 |
| Highest | -0.42% | 2014 |
| Lowest | -14.08% | 2007 |
| Average since 2016 | -4.45% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | -9.45% | 1990 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Romania's external balance on goods and services (% of GDP) rose 0.76 percentage points on 2024 (from -6.01% to -5.25%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.13 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.1 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 6.44 percentage points in 2009 and the biggest yearly fall was 4.47 percentage points in 1992. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.48 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 69% of the movement over 10 observed years.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
A straight-line projection, tested first
Extending that straight line gives about -8.43% for 2028. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2023 to 2025 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.99%, against 1.54% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.
See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.
How it compares
In 2025, Romania had the 84th highest value of the 137 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | -5.25% | 2025 |
| World | 0.98% | 2025 |
| Europe & Central Asia | 2.7% | 2025 |
| High income | 0.93% | 2025 |
Closest to Romania in the 2025 ranking
What this measures
The balance of international trade in goods and services is the difference between the exports and imports of goods and services. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 36 values
| Year | External balance on goods and services (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | -5.25 |
| 2024 | -6.01 |
| 2023 | -4.89 |
| 2022 | -6.92 |
| 2021 | -5.68 |
| 2020 | -4.42 |
| 2019 | -4.24 |
| 2018 | -3.52 |
| 2017 | -2.49 |
| 2016 | -1.06 |
| 2015 |
External balance on goods and services (% of GDP) in nearby economies
- Albania — -5.5% (2025)
- Armenia — -5.51% (2025)
- Austria — 2.38% (2025)
- Azerbaijan — 6.21% (2025)
- Belarus — -1.95% (2025)
- Belgium — -2.02% (2025)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina — -13.12% (2025)
- Bulgaria — -1.04% (2025)
- Croatia — -5.04% (2025)
- Cyprus
More economic policy & debt data for Romania
- Communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP) — 49.14% (2025)
- Imports of goods and services (current US$, BoP) — US$174.97 billion (2025)
- Insurance and financial services (% of service imports, BoP) — 4.31% (2025)
- Goods imports (current US$, BoP) — US$139.06 billion (2025)
- Service imports (current US$, BoP) — US$35.91 billion (2025)
- Transport services (% of service imports, BoP) — 15.65% (2025)
- Travel services (% of service imports, BoP) — 30.2% (2025)
- Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$) — US$803.14 million (2025)
- Current account balance (current US$, BoP) — −US$33.88 billion (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Romania's external balance on goods and services (% of GDP)?
- -5.25% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1990?
- It is up 4.21 percentage points from -9.45% in 1990. The highest value was -0.42% in 2014 and the lowest -14.08% in 2007.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NE.RSB.GNFS.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Country official statistics, National Statistical Organizations and/or Central Banks; National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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