The current account balance of payments recorded a deficit of €967 million ($1.159 billion) in the first months of 2018, an increase by more than 25% compared with the same period of 2017, reads a press release of the National Bank of Romania on Monday, Agerpres reported. The current account deficit accounted for €770 million in the same period last year. The goods balance saw a €460 million higher deficit, with the services balance showing a smaller surplus of €94 million and that of primary revenues recording a deficit of €328 million. The secondary revenues balance posted a surplus by €29 million higher. Moreover, in January-March 2018, the total external debt increased by €2.050 billion. The external debt in the long run totaled €69.598 billion on March 31 (72.9% of the total external debt), an increase by 1.4% compared with December 31, 2017. The external debt in the short run reached €25.929 billion in end-March (27.1% of the total external debt), up 4.3% compared with end 2017.