By July 23, the Treasury had borrowed RON 28.93 billion (EUR 5.6 billion) from households this year, a share of 16.7% in the total public financing undertaken by the government to cover the record financing needs, according to data published by the Ministry of Finance and compiled by Cursdeguvernare.ro.
The Treasury issues government bonds under two schemes, in local currency and euros, and recently launched papers denominated in euros with a maturity of ten years, tapping households’ interest in foreign currency.
The fact that almost 20% of the financing needs are contracted from the population is a major progress compared to previous years, when this figure did not exceed 3%.
In the whole of 2024, the state borrowed approximately RON 32.7 billion from the population.
The trend towards relying on households’ savings to finance the public deficit takes place at a time when the commercial banks have tested their superior limits for financing the state.
The importance of these subscriptions is increasing as the state’s need for financing is increasing, and the Ministry of Finance’s strategy aims to increase the population’s share of total public debt, a stable source of capital for the state, especially at attractive coupons attached to the bonds.
Following the Treasury’s issues of government papers to households, the public debt payable to the population (the share of the households in total public debt) has increased rapidly in recent years, exceeding 6% this year to reach RON 61.6 billion (EUR 12 billion) at the end of April 2025 (latest available data).
iulian@romania-insider.com
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