Tanczos Barna: It is out of the question to reach 'junk' this year

Romania will not be downgraded to the category of countries not recommended for investors (junk) this year, believes Finance Minister Tanczos Barna, Agerpres reports.

"It is out of the question (to reach 'junk' status). We are looking at economic indicators, at economic development, at the solidity of the Romanian economy, at the budget made with a 7% deficit and the Government's commitment to this budget. It's out of the question," said the Finance minister on Saturday during the briefing following the Government meeting where the budget draft for the current year was adopted.

Tanczos Barna pointed out that the Government took note of the negative signals from international rating agencies, which, in the last two months, downgraded Romania's outlook to "negative" and explained that this is precisely why the Government committed to stabilising the budget deficit and gradually reducing it in the following years.

"We took note of these negative outlook signals last year and this month, and that's precisely why the Government made the decisions it did, focusing on stabilising the deficit and gradually reducing it year by year," the Finance minister added.

Regarding the visits by representatives of international financial institutions to Bucharest next week, he mentioned that these are courtesy visits to analyse economic developments and does not believe they will result in written recommendations for Romania. "The visits next week are courtesy visits, following leadership changes at the international institutions, others are purely analytical. The World Bank is not bringing any report this way. It is a meeting between the institution leaders, mainly discussing the 2025 outlook and commitments for the next seven years, as agreed with the European Commission. I don't believe we will receive written recommendations. There will certainly be discussions about the current situation in Romania and international markets. The purpose of the visit is not to give us recommendations on anything," the Finance minister further clarified.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will pay a visit Bucharest, February 3-7, as recently announced by Geoff Gottlieb, IMF Regional Representative for Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe.

Currently, Romania does not have a financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund, but the financial institution evaluates the evolution of the Romanian economy annually, based on consultations under Article IV.

The consultations are a mandatory surveillance exercise for all member states. The purpose of the Article IV consultations is to examine the national financial and economic situation and to make general recommendations regarding monetary policies, fiscal policies, and economic strategies to ensure stability and positive economic performance.

Regarding rating outlooks, in December last year, the financial rating agency Fitch announced that it had downgraded Romania's outlook from stable to negative, with the same announcement coming from S&P Global in January this year.