Romania’s public debt up by over 2% of GDP in Jan-Nov 2019

Romania’s public debt increased by RON 36 bln (EUR 7.6 bln) in the first eleven months of 2019, to RON 366.4 bln (EUR 77.1 bln) at the end of November.

The debt to GDP ratio thus advanced by 2.1 percentage points to 37.1% of GDP at the end of November, according to data from the Finance Ministry.

The domestic public debt increased by RON 21 bln to RON 193.6 bln while the external public debt advanced by RON 15 bln to RON 172.8 bln.

Compared to the end of November 2018, Romania’s public debt increased by RON 41 bln (EUR 8.6 bln) while the debt to GDP ratio advanced by nearly 2pp.

Romania’s debt-to-GDP ratio tripled from 13% before the recession in 2008 to 39% at the end of 2014, to slightly decline afterwards exclusively because of the strong expansion of the nominal GDP while the public debt in absolute terms has constantly increased driven by fiscal deficit.

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