Romania adopts the Memorandum on the Convergence Program for 2021-2024

The Government adopted the Memorandum on the Convergence Program of Romania for the period 2021 – 2024, which is to be sent to the European Commission for the coordination of economic and budgetary policies within the Union, as part of the European Semester. At the same time, the measures included in it respond to the country-specific recommendations for Romania.

The adopted program presents the trajectory and the necessary measures for consolidating public finances in a sustainable and balanced manner, which does not affect Romania’s ability to support the economy and promote investment, as a way to support sustainable economic growth. The Convergence Program is based on the provisions of the Fiscal-Budgetary Strategy and the forecast of the medium-term macroeconomic framework 2021-2024. According to estimates, the economic recovery will be complete this year, and the annual medium-term growth rate will approach 5%, supported by growing budgets for public investment. The level of public debt is estimated to remain at a sustainable level, below the 60% of GDP reference value set by the Maastricht Treaty, given the gradual reduction of the budget deficit to a level below the 3% of GDP ceiling in 2024.

The Program also reflects the investments planned through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is expected to generate a positive annual contribution to medium-term economic growth of almost 1 percentage point.

Starting with 2020, Romania is subject to the Excessive Deficit Procedure – under the Stability and Growth Pact, as a result of exceeding the budget deficit limit of 3% of GDP in 2019. The European Commission will reassess Romania’s budgetary situation this month based on the information provided by the Convergence Program and we expect a positive analysis from it, and this year’s country-specific recommendations to reflect our economic policy objectives.