Romania’s public debt reportedly up EUR 2 bln in Jan-May

Romania’s public debt increased by more than RON 9 billion (roughly EUR 2 billion) during the first five months of 2019 to RON 339.6 bln (EUR 71.5 bln), according to data leaked from the Finance Ministry quoted by Hotnews.ro (latest published data is for end-March).

The rise in the country’s public debt accounts for some 1% of GDP. Nonetheless, given the increase of the nominal GDP (over the past four quarters, under the debt-to-GDP methodology used by the EU), the country’s debt at the end of May accounted for 35.1% of GDP, a mere 0.1 percentage points up from the end of 2018.

The Government informed the European Commission that it projects end-2019 public debt at RON 362.6 billion, some 10% up from one year earlier, Hotnews.ro said quoting the same documents from the finance ministry.

Based on end-2018 data, this implies an increase of RON 32.6 bln (EUR 6.9 bln) in the stock of public debt. Romania’s Government already issued EUR 2 bln Eurobond in July heading toward the target. The EUR 6.9 bln rise in Romania’s public debt is in line with the 3% of GDP deficit target (EUR 6 bln, roughly) and the Finance Ministry’s claim about financing in advance part of next year’s budget deficit. Based on the robust growth rate and the high GDP deflator, the rise is likely to keep more or less unchanged the debt to GDP ratio at around 35%.

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