The budget deficit has become central subject in Romania. Cristian Roşu, a political analyst, shows for the truth who takes the short -term, while the taxpayers remain with the payment note. On Reddit, Romanians debate if they felt a benefit, and the Financial Times warn: Romania has the largest deficit in the EU and risks a new social and political crisis, against the background of austerity measures that can reappear similar protests to those of 2012.
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“The deficit is not abstraction, it has clear short-term winners and secure payers for medium-long”, Explain for the truth Cristian Roşu, political analyst.
Who has won now
“First of all, the beneficiaries of social transfers and state employees have now won. Social assistance rose to over 147 billion lei, up 14.7% compared to last year. Personal expenses reached almost 100 billion, up 7.9%” he says.
The service providers contracted by the state, from medicines to social programs, remain connected to the budget tap, he adds. “And the companies involved in projects funded by PNRR are among the big winners. On this line, the state spent 123% more than in 2024”, opine red.
Also, discreet, but consistent winners, are the creditors, in the context in which the interest collected by banks and investors, internal and international, increased by almost 45%, reaching over 31.7 billion lei, according to it. “The Romanian state borrows massively and expensive: only in the first 7 months of 2025, it spent almost 10 billion lei on interest, compared to the same period of 2024”completes the specialist.
The taxpayers “pay the note”.
“VAT growth is already seen in shelves and invoices. Then the private environment comes, especially the SMEs, which will face a toxic combination in the next 12 months: higher tax costs, high interest, uncertainty and fragile consumption. Many of them will not resist. From 2026, household be taxed in addition, hitting directly an important consumption segment ”, claims Cristian Roşu.
He draws attention to the fact that it seems that Romania does not learn. “We repeat the mistakes of the crisis from 2010-2012. The budget deficit is not reduced with the scissors, but with the scalpel. The economy suffers. emphasizes the political analyst.
The online environmental debates
A participant in a similar discussion on Reddit explained that the deficit would be acceptable only if it were financially funding: “The rational answer is that the deficit is good when it goes into public investments (infrastructure, etc.), because it means that the state borrows, but something remains behind. The Romanian answer is that the budgetaru ‘is still taking advantage now, then everyone suffers later ”, he wrote.
Another User underlined the role of consumption: “In theory, if all the loan goes on the salary of the budget and pensions, then 1.8 million budgets and millions of pensioners had higher purchasing power. They bought products and services from the private environment. The private environment had a profit and allowed to give higher salaries. In short, the economic growth based on RO of RO.”
The discussion also went to the impact on the local market. “Necessarily local … because otherwise it would import. Now the product may not be local, but to sell in Romania you have to have a company in Romania. So a distributor, importer, seller, have also eaten bread”someone said.
Another user summarized the situation by the concept of Wage-Led Growth: “It was actually given money to the employees to spend them. In the state obviously, not for slaves on private plantations. The pensions were also enlarged. The problem is that all this went directly to inflation and now we must suffer.”
“The deficit is in your new car taken almost with the money down”
From the private area, the message sounded different: “I, as an employee in private, at the corpus, I swear I did not benefit”, someone commented. The reply to the rapid income: “You benefited, but you did not realize. ” Then a user asked for arguments: “Light us how it benefited! By increasing taxes, by excluding deductions for IT, through the minimum wage that brought inflation?”
Dissatisfaction with taxation has been expressed harshly: “I benefited (…) I paid Căcălău taxes, on all sides, and for 3 years, every year the purchasing power decreases.”
Concrete examples were also brought. “I had a discussion with a good friend … He also benefited from the deficit: from the doctoral scholarship (who had doubled in a year) and the salaries of residents. My man has a new 20k euro car. I would say:” Boss, the deficit is in your new car taken with the money down. “
The most visible winners seem to be politicians, Consider Reddit users: “Mostly the politicians benefited. It is enough to look at how they were dressed 10 years ago and how they look now. There are no luxury brands for them. The least benefited from the young people who are about to repay these loans.”
In the same note, another comment points out that they have benefited: “The politicians and their companies who built streets in villages with population of thousands of inhabitants only on paper. The clientele of parties that are in good positions like ASF, various state kings who lose year of year and they have salaries of thousands of euros.
The circle of beneficiaries has expanded
“Many among which we can list: politicians, budgets, pensioners, cardboard businessmen, banks who have granted loans to sensational interest, real estate developers. The only one who did not benefit is the private, that he was whipped with taxes over taxes”, wrote another user.
Someone else thought almost everyone caught something: “Everyone has benefited from the deficit, more or less. From the ceiling on energy to Anghel Saligny contracts.”
The private, however, saw something else: “Everything I received as a private employee was inflation, greedflation and interference. Either more expensive, or less and salary increases.”
Positive shades also appeared: “Given that in the last 4 years they have been built somewhere 300 km of highway and express road, I suspect that we also benefited, those who work in private.
As well as in the energy zone: “I benefited from the fact that the energy prices were capped, that it gave the statue with money in distributors”, says someone.
But also the bitter finding about pensions: “Those with small pensions-they remained the same or were reduced. The electoral pomana was for the friends of the single party.”
Romania, under the pressure of deficit
Romania has revived austerity measures that rocked Europe more than a decade ago, in an attempt to control a budget deficit considered by the Financial Times “Record at the European Union level”.
“At 9.3% of GDP, the public deficit of Romania was the highest in the EU in 2024, well above the threshold of 3% imposed by the European tax rules”, The note, recently, the British publication. The previous government avoided taking unpopular measures before the elections, and the payment note remained.
The economic context remains complicated: all three major rating agencies have relegated Romania to just one step above the “junk” level, due to debt and inflation. The GDP increased by only 0.3% in the second quarter, and the NBR maintains the key interest to 6.5% to temper the prices.
The political risk is as high as the financial one. FT recalls that in 2012 the Romanian government fell as a result of anti-uterine protests. Currently, hundreds of people have come out again, and the leader of Gold, George Simion, asked for early elections, promising to “refuse the payment of taxes” imposed by a government that he calls “illegitimate”.
Against this background, Romania risks losing almost a quarter of the European post-pandemic funds, out of a total of 28.5 billion euros initially allocated, after managing to access less than 10 billion so far. “The preservation and maximization of European funds is not a left or right issue, it is a strategic option that stimulates the development of Romania”insisted the Minister of Finance, Alexandru Nazare.
The Financial Times shows that, beyond the fiscal reforms, the pressure is amplified by the political fragility: the ruling coalition formed in June, after the re -election of President Nicușor Dan, is already shaken by internal resignations and conflicts, while gold dominates surveys, with about 40% of the voting intentions.
In the face of these data, the conclusion is that: the deficit has become the center of gravity of the economy and of the Romanian politics. Austerity measures are presented as “essential”, but the risk of a new social and political crisis is real, as the Financial Times warns.
