Romania confirms Q1 public deficit up 22% y/y, yet 25% smaller than target

Romania’s general government budget deficit increased by 22% y/y to RON 43.7 billion (EUR 8.8 billion), or 2.28% of the GDP expected by the government for the whole year, the Finance Ministry announced on April 25. Although below the 3%-of-GDP target, the figure puts pressure on the government to come up with new restrictive fiscal measures after the May presidential elections.

Revenues increased by 6.9% y/y to RON 141.3 billion, with the fiscal revenues rising by 10.0% y/y. The transfers from the EU budget were 25% smaller than last year (only RON 9.2 billion or EUR 1.8 billion).