Daniel Dăianu, the President of the Fiscal Council, downplays the public discussions about the potential insolvency Romania could face shortly after, in an interview with Bloomberg, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan sounded the alarm, stating that the risk of default is real and imminent if expenses are not rapidly reduced.
Daniel Dăianu reacted after the Fitch agency maintained Romania’s rating, emphasizing that this reflects the budget correction measures already adopted by the Government and the fiscal adjustment prospects. „Maintaining the rating takes into account the perspective of budget adjustment,” explained Dăianu, as quoted by Agerpres.
In his view, rumors about the country's insolvency, including the inability to pay salaries or pensions, "are groundless."
He specified that the package of measures approved in July 2025 aims to stabilize public debt below 70% of GDP and limit the budget deficit to around 6% by the end of 2026.
Fitch confirms stability but warns of fiscal pressures
The assessment from the international agency came with clear reservations. Fitch indicated that, although Romania has taken significant measures, pressures on public finances remain high.
The deficit, which should decrease to below 7% of GDP, and the increasing costs of debt are still reasons for concern. However, Fitch did not consider Romania to be currently at risk of financial collapse, reinforcing Dăianu's position.
Bolojan: "The risk of default is very high"
In contrast, in an interview with Bloomberg on August 15, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan issued a strong warning.
"The risk of default is indeed very high after years of managing with large deficits," stated the head of the Government.
He emphasized that the only way to avoid a catastrophic scenario is through rapid expense reduction and continued budget reforms. "If we do not enter a stable fiscal trajectory, the only possible outcome is a very bad one," Bolojan added.
Promised reforms and time pressure
The Prime Minister mentioned that the package of measures adopted in July, which combined spending cuts with tax increases, is just the beginning.
He spoke about the need for successive reforms, applied quickly, to prevent a recurrence of past budgetary deviations.
However, in Dăianu's opinion, "public discussions related to a potential insolvency of Romania, non-payment of salaries and pensions, are groundless."
Burnete: "The state has no money problems"
And Radu Burnete, a presidential advisor, rejected scenarios related to Romania's insolvency. "The Romanian state has no money problems and certainly has no problems in financing itself," he said in a recent interview on Antena3.
Burnete specified that any current difficulties are related to budget construction and will be resolved with the budget adjustment: "You will see that most of these things will be corrected with the budget adjustment, because the economy is slowing down and inevitably, we are collecting less."
However, he admitted that certain public projects and investments could be postponed and warned that without deficit reduction measures, real problems could arise within two years. Nevertheless, he ruled out delays in paying pensions and salaries: "From my point of view, it is out of the question to have delays in this area of pensions and salaries."
Instead, he emphasized that Romania has "far too many ongoing public investments," creating additional pressures on the budget.