Companies’ debts to the state budget rose to 77.6 billion lei in the second quarter; over 48,000 companies are in arrears

The total amount of arrears owed by Romanian companies to the state budget and social security funds has reached 77.6 billion lei, up from the 77 billion lei reported in the first quarter of the year, according to data from the financial analysis platform RisCo.ro.   At the same time, the number of companies with outstanding debts reached 48,028, over a thousand more than in the previous quarter (47,012). As before, the largest share of arrears comes from sectors such as construction, trade and transport.   Debts owed to the state budget continue to account for the majority of arrears, totalling 57.6 billion lei in the second quarter of 2026, of which 1.7 billion lei are being contested by companies. The social security budget has debts of 14.9 billion lei, with 46 million lei being contested. Arrears owed to the health budget exceed 4.6 billion lei, of which 18.5 million lei are disputed. The lowest figure is for the unemployment insurance budget, with 502 million lei in arrears, of which less than one million lei are disputed.   Bucarest gathers 31.9 billion lei, namely over 41% of the national total, the sum generated by 19,045 of companies with arrears in the second quarter.Next, some way behind, are: Ilfov, with 6 billion lei; Constan?a, with 3.8 billion lei; Timi?, with 2.7 billion lei; and Buz?u and Sibiu, each with over 2.1 billion lei. At the other end of the scale, Covasna, Vâlcea and S?laj remain the counties with the lowest accumulated debts, each under 170 million lei. By sector of activity, the construction of residential and non-residential buildings remains in first place, both in terms of the value of debts – 5.14 billion lei – and the number of companies in arrears, totalling 5,977.   Some way behind, the wholesale trade in food, beverages and tobacco totals nearly three billion lei, whilst the specialised wholesale trade in other products exceeds 2.5 billion lei.   Other sectors with high levels of arrears include: the chemical industry, with 2.3 billion lei; security and guard services, with nearly two billion lei; wholesale trade intermediation, with 1.9 billion lei; services ancillary to the extraction of crude oil and natural gas, with over 1.8 billion lei; road freight transport, with 1.7 billion lei; and road and railway construction, with 1.7 billion lei.