Romania's public money, 1995–2025
The state collects taxes, contributions, EU funds and other revenue. In 2025, out of every 100 lei, 8.0 went on interest, the most since 2001 (the peak: 14.6, in 1997). Where the rest goes, how much is borrowed on top, how Romania compares with Poland, Hungary and the EU, governments on the same timeline, and what the rating agencies say.
In 2024, the latest year with spending split by purpose, the Romanian state spent 127 lei for every 100 it collected. The extra 27 are the deficit, which the state has to finance, mostly by borrowing. Of the 127: 40 social protection (including pensions), 20 economic affairs (transport, energy, farming), 15 health, 12 education, 7.1 interest, and the rest general public services, public order, defence, environment and culture. For 2025 the interest figure is already out: 8.0 lei per 100.
“Collected” means all government revenue (central and local government and social security): taxes, contributions, EU funds and other revenue, under European accounting rules (ESA 2010).
The EU average in the same year: 107 lei spent for every 100 collected. Poland: 115. Hungary: 112. All four spent more than they collected; Romania the most.
The biggest gap with the EU average is in “economic affairs”: roads, transport, energy, farming, support for businesses. Romania spent 20 lei per 100 collected, the EU average 12. This includes investment paid for with EU funds.
Use the slider to change the year. The split by purpose runs to 2024; interest and the deficit run to 2025, in the next chapters.
| Romania | Poland | Hungary | EU average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interest | 7.1 | 5.1 | 11.6 | 4.1 |
| Social protection (incl. pensions) | 40.0 | 42.8 | 29.3 | 42.8 |
| Health | 15.2 | 14.3 | 11.3 | 16.1 |
| Education | 11.9 | 13.1 | 11.7 | 10.4 |
| Economic affairs (transport, energy, farming) | 19.8 | 14.4 | 18.4 | 11.5 |
| General public services (excl. debt) | 9.9 | 6.5 | 12.0 | 9.0 |
| Police, courts, fire service | 8.3 | 5.6 | 4.2 | 3.8 |
| Defence | 4.8 | 6.9 | 4.7 | 3.2 |
| Environment, housing, culture | 10.1 | 6.4 | 9.0 | 6.0 |
| Total spent | 127.2 | 115.1 | 112.2 | 106.8 |
From 1995 to 2025 the state ran a deficit every year. In 2024 it was 9.3% of GDP, the same as in 2020, the pandemic year. In 2025, 7.9%. Public debt rose from 6.6% of GDP in 1995, the lowest in the series, to 59.3% in 2025.
The deficit is the gap between what the state spends and what it collects in a year. The debt is everything the state owes at year-end: bonds, loans and deposits, net of what public bodies owe each other. Short explanations in the glossary: budget deficit, public debt.
The bands at the top show the prime ministers, with dates from the official list on gov.ro. Some terms are given there to the day, others only to the month; we show them with the same precision. The list includes caretaker prime ministers as gov.ro lists them.
A budget year does not usually belong to one prime minister. From 1995 to 2025, gov.ro shows the same prime minister from 1 January to 31 December in only 16 calendar years. Even then, spending depends on laws passed by Parliament and decisions taken in earlier years, and revenue depends on the economy. The table below puts those years side by side on one measure: that year's deficit and the change from the year before. Nothing is added up or ranked by person.
| Year | Prime minister all year (gov.ro) | Deficit, % of GDP | Change on previous year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Nicolae Văcăroiu | 2.0 | — |
| 1997 | Victor Ciorbea | 4.4 | larger by 0.8 pp |
| 2001 | Adrian Năstase | 3.5 | smaller by 1.1 pp |
| 2002 | Adrian Năstase | 1.9 | smaller by 1.6 pp |
| 2003 | Adrian Năstase | 1.4 | smaller by 0.5 pp |
| 2005 | Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu | 0.8 | smaller by 0.3 pp |
| 2006 | Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu | 2.1 | larger by 1.3 pp |
| 2007 | Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu | 2.8 | larger by 0.7 pp |
| 2009 | Emil Boc | 9.5 | larger by 4.1 pp |
| 2010 | Emil Boc | 7.1 | smaller by 2.4 pp |
| 2011 | Emil Boc | 5.6 | smaller by 1.5 pp |
| 2013 | Victor Viorel Ponta | 2.3 | smaller by 1.5 pp |
| 2014 | Victor Viorel Ponta | 1.2 | smaller by 1.1 pp |
| 2016 | Dacian Julien Cioloș | 2.5 | larger by 2.0 pp |
| 2022 | Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă | 6.5 | smaller by 0.7 pp |
| 2024 | Marcel Ciolacu | 9.3 | larger by 2.7 pp |
Context: 2009 was the first year of the financial crisis; 2020 the pandemic year (with three prime ministers on the gov.ro list). The change on the previous year shows the direction, not who decided it; a year's deficit does not measure a prime minister's responsibility.
Since 3 April 2020, Romania has been in the EU's excessive deficit procedure: the EU Council found its deficit above the 3%-of-GDP limit. It was in the same procedure once before, from 7 July 2009 to 21 June 2013. The Council has twice found that Romania took no “effective action”: on 26 July 2024 and on 20 June 2025. In between, in January 2025, it asked for the deficit to be corrected by 2030, and on 8 July 2025 it set a new limit on spending growth; the deadline stayed 2030. Romania is not alone in the procedure: Poland, Hungary, France and Italy, among others, are in it too.
Ilie Bolojan's government, sworn in on 23 June 2025, was dismissed by a no-confidence vote on 5 May 2026, with 281 of 285 valid votes. Since then the government has served in a caretaker capacity; by August 2026 two attempts to form a new government had failed, according to Moody’s. On 27 September 2026 gov.ro lists Ilie Bolojan as prime minister, with several ministers serving ad interim.
In 2025 interest took 8.0 lei of every 100 the Romanian state collected. Poland: 5.8. Hungary: 8.9. EU average: 4.1. In 2023–2025 Hungary paid more than Romania: in 2024, 11.6 lei per 100.
In 2019 Romania paid 3.6 lei per 100, and in 2022, 4.4. Since then the figure has risen every year, as the debt grew and borrowing became dearer. The highest was in 1997: 14.6 lei per 100. The lowest, in 2007: 2.0.
As a share of GDP, interest rose from 1.2% in 2019 to 2.8% in 2025.
The market benchmark for what borrowing costs the state is the 10-year government bond yield. In August 2026 the monthly average was 6.43% for Romania, 5.81% for Poland, 5.46% for Hungary and 3.19% for Germany. The annual average of this yield was 3.62% in 2021 and 6.96% in 2025.
All three major agencies give Romania the lowest investment-grade rating: BBB− at S&P and Fitch, Baa3 at Moody’s. All with a negative outlook, meaning the rating may be cut. One notch lower, Romania's bonds would be speculative grade.
A sovereign rating is an agency's opinion of how likely the state is to pay its debts on time. It matters because many investors, under their own rules, buy only bonds rated BBB− or higher. In brief, in the glossary: sovereign rating.
The table in S&P's 15 May 2026 release uses the same ratio as this page, interest divided by revenue, and shows 7.1 for 2024 and 8.0 for 2025, the same numbers as here. Moody’s release gives interest as a share of GDP.
All revenue, spending, interest, deficit and debt figures cover general government as a whole (sector S13: central government, local authorities, social security), under the European system of accounts ESA 2010. They differ from the monthly cash budget execution published by Romania's Ministry of Finance.
The split by purpose comes from the COFOG functional classification, to 2024. Interest in the 100-lei chart is the same as in chapter 3 (interest D.41 divided by total revenue); the other purposes are split in proportion to COFOG spending excluding debt costs.
Eurostat tables come in different vintages: deficit and debt from the April 2026 notification, revenue and interest from the July 2026 release. The differences are small; they are never mixed in one chart.
Ratings are taken only from the agencies' own releases.