S&P confirms Romania’s ratings but lowers growth outlook

Ratings agency Standard&Poor’s has confirmed Romania’s long and short-term debts in foreign currencies and in local currencies to the BBB-/A-3 level, with a stable perspective. This was due to the ongoing fiscal consolidation process and to lower external debt. But S&P expects Romania’s economy to slow down growth, to some 2.2% of the GDP this year. The agency notes that Romania entered technical recession in the first half of 2014 after two consecutive quarters of economic decrease, mainly due to lower investments, which were in turn triggered by the low absorption level for European funds. The outlook for 2014 – 2017 is however slightly better, with an average yearly growth of the GDP of 2.7%, as internal demand would improve, despite a decline in population and despite other factors which slow down growth, such as bad infrastructure. editor@romania-insider.com