Romania's Ministry of Finance, on January 19, initiated procedures to launch Eurobonds denominated in US dollars with the maturity of five respectively ten years, daily Ziarul Financiar announced.

For the 5-year bonds, the indicative interest rate consists of the reference interest on 5-year dollar Treasury securities plus 160 basis points, while for 10-year bonds the indicative interest rate is 195 basis points above the reference interest on 10-year dollar Treasury securities.

In 2022, the gross financing need of the Romanian Government, respectively the total volume of funds to be raised by the Ministry of Finance from the internal and foreign markets, is about RON 145.4 bln (EUR 29 bln, 11% of GDP), about RON 10 bln (EUR 2 bln) more than last year, according to the ministry's "Indicative program for issuing government bonds for 2022."

The gross financing need to GDP ratio will remain, however, roughly around the same level as in 2021. This is despite the public cash deficit planned at 5.84% of GDP this year, down from 7.1% of GDP in 2021.

To secure the necessary resources, the ministry plans to borrow around EUR 14 bln from international markets, including by the issuance of Eurobonds in a volume of around EUR 10 bln, depending on the developments, conditions and opportunities offered by these markets, according to Cursdeguvernare.ro.

The Government also expects the disbursement of around EUR 3.7 bln by the EC under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

"We don't see a funding problem," chief economist of BCR bank Ciprian Dascalu said, speaking for Ziarul Financiar about Romania's gross financing need that will rise in 2022 by 7% compared to 2021.

(Photo: Iryna Drozd/ Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com