Romania buys more from abroad than it sells, and the gap has to be paid for — by foreign investment, EU money, remittances or borrowing. Here is the gap and what fills it.
The current account adds up everything Romania earns from the rest of the world in a quarter and everything it pays: exports and imports of goods and services, income such as profits and interest, and current transfers such as remittances. A deficit means the country spends more abroad than it earns, and capital coming in covers the difference.
Goods and services. Romania runs a large deficit on goods and a surplus on services, such as IT and transport. The goods gap is the bigger one, so trade as a whole is in deficit.
What fills the gap. Foreign direct investment is money that comes to stay: new companies, expansions, profits that foreign owners reinvest. It is steadier than borrowing, but a quarter can swing with one large deal, and some countries show jumps from money routed through holding companies.
Seasons. The quarterly figures here are not seasonally adjusted, which is how Eurostat publishes them for these countries. Compare a quarter with the same quarter a year earlier, not with the one before.