S&P reconfirms Romania's sovereign rating and stable outlook

The S&P rating agency reconfirmed, on April 12, the rating related to Romania's governmental debt at BBB-/A3 for long-term and short-term debt in foreign currency, as well as the stable outlook, the Ministry of Finance (MF) announced on Monday.According to a press release, the decision to reconfirm the sovereign rating and maintain the stable outlook is supported, in the agency's opinion, by the moderate stock of external and governmental debt and the solid growth prospects of our country in the next two years.At the same time, S&P anticipates that Romania's commitments within the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Mechanism will continue to anchor the political reforms of the Romanian authorities."The report confirms that the investments we finance with European money and for which we provide co-financing will support a substantial economic growth perspective of approximately 3.6%, on average, between 2025 and 2027. For us, it is a recognition of the constant efforts to to manage external and governmental debt in a responsible way, while focusing on the structural reforms we have undertaken. At the same time, it is a signal of confidence for investors that Romania remains on a positive development trajectory." finance minister Marcel Bolos said.In the evaluation, S&P highlights both the resilience demonstrated by the labor market in our country, and the fact that unemployment remains close to the historical lows recorded.The main factors that could lead to the improvement of the country's rating or the outlook are the substantial reduction of the fiscal deficit and the registration of a downward trend of public debt as a share of GDP. At the same time, the decrease in the costs of servicing the governmental public debt by improving the debt structure and the strong reduction of external deficits can represent other positive factors for Romania's credit rating, the release states.The main factors that could lead to a worsening of the country's rating or the outlook are: the increase in government deficits and the level of public debt as a percentage of GDP over the agency's current projections.