site.btaRomanian Prime Minister Says Time of Austerity Is Over

During a press conference livestreamed on Wednesday, Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said that the time of austerity is over, as his government is discontinuing the introduction of new measures of austerity.

The Prime Minister said: "Our country is entering a phase of economic recovery, and the difficult period we have all gone through will come to an end. We are at the end of some budgetary adjustment measures. From now on, we will work on measures that will lead to economic recovery."

These measures will be included in the new budget that is being drafted and is expected to be submitted to parliament around February 20. The deficit target for 2026 is 6.2% with inflation below 4%.

Bolojan said that Romania will have a good year, with huge absorption of European funds but on the condition that the country complies with the stages for introducing fiscal discipline imposed by the European Union. He added: "One of these stages is related to the pensions of magistrates. I will inform the Constitutional Court of the consequences of postponing certain decisions."

The Prime Minister reported that the cap on natural gas prices will be extended. He added: "We must take steps to remove the gas price cap, but at the same time we must protect Romanian citizens from a possible rise in inflation, which could occur against the backdrop of uncontrolled gas price increases."

Bolojan said that liberalization will start taking place in 2027, which was confirmed by Romanian Minister of Energy Bogdan Ivan, who wrote on his official Facebook profile that gas prices will not increase from April 1, 2026, as liberalization will be gradual.

The coalition government led by Bolojan has already approved two packages of austerity measures to reduce the budget deficit, which amounted to 9.3% of GDP in 2024. The reforms affected a number of sectors, sparked numerous protests and led to a series of no-confidence motions in parliament.