Romania’s public debt increased by RON 20.3 bln (EUR 4.1 bln) in the first two months of this year, to RON 596.9 bln (EUR 120.6 bln), the Ministry of Finance announced.

The debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 48.9% at the end of 2021 to 50.2% at the end of January and 50.6% end-February.

The debt includes the advance payment disbursed by the European Union on the EUR 14.2 bln loan component of the Relaunch and Resilience Facility (RRF), the Ministry notes. Nearly EUR 1.9 bln was disbursed in January under the RRF after the EUR 1.8 bln advance payment for the EUR 15 bln grants portion was received in December.

In addition to this, Romania issued Eurobonds two times in January and February, respectively. While the USD 2.4 bln Eurobond issued in January was aimed at refinancing other issues maturing in January and February, the EUR 2.5 bln issue launched in February has directly contributed to the public debt’s expansion.

Romania’s public external debt reached 26.1% of GDP, 2pp up from the end of December.

The internal debt, in contrast, has decreased both nominally and as a share of GDP from December (RON 292.9 bln, 24.8% of GDP) to February (RON 289.1 bln, or 24.5% of GDP). 

iulian@romania-insider.com

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