The general government budget deficit reached RON 109 billion (EUR 22 billion) or 6.2% of the full year’s projected GDP in January-October, according to preliminary data from the Finance Ministry data consulted by Profit.ro. The Finance Ministry will publish the final budget execution data after November 25.

Romania initially set a 5%-of-GDP deficit target for 2024 and recently lifted the target to 6.9% of GDP to informally admit a more realistic projection of 7.9% of GDP.

Profit.ro disclosed that the sharp rise in the public deficit during October (from 5.4% of GDP in January-September) was broadly due to investment – a rhetoric typically circulated by government officials while the payroll and the expenditures with goods and services also increase significantly. 

Investment expenses stood at RON 74.9 billion (EUR 15 billion) in the first nine months of the year to reach RON 95 billion in the first ten months of the year, according to Profit.ro data. The RON 20 billion increase is the highest monthly advance this year and significantly above the monthly average of the first nine months of RON 8.33 billion.

Romania is carrying out major investment projects this year, but also in the following years, in the context in which it has to implement projects with European funds from the multi-annual budget of the EU, but also projects with European funds financed within the Resilience Facility.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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