Romania recorded the European Union’s highest general government budget deficit in the second quarter of 2026, at 9.2% of GDP, according to seasonally and working-day adjusted Eurostat data compiled under the ESA methodology. The figure was up from 7.7% in the same period of 2025 and 7.3% in 2024, prompting the Social Democratic Party (PSD) to accuse the government led by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan of poor fiscal management.

In a press release cited by Digi24 and statements by party leaders and economic advisers, PSD argued that the government had deferred payments to contractors to keep the cash deficit reported by the Finance Ministry down. The party, which left the ruling coalition in April before returning to government in October, is seeking a comprehensive assessment of public finances at the time it takes over the executive. It pointed to Finance Ministry data showing the deficit falling to 2.00% of GDP in the first half of 2026, from 3.63% in the same period of 2025.

The Finance Ministry, headed by Alexandru Nazare under both Bolojan and newly appointed Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, responded by explaining differences between the ESA and cash accounting methodologies. The figures are not directly comparable: Eurostat’s quarterly data are seasonally and working-day adjusted and expressed as a share of the quarter's GDP, while the ministry’s cash figures are not seasonally adjusted and use annual GDP as the denominator.

However, non-seasonally adjusted ESA figures also show a much smaller improvement than the cash data. Eurostat data indicate that the deficit narrowed by just 0.7% year on year to RON69.3bn in the first half of 2026 under ESA, compared with a 41.2% contraction to RON41.0bn under the cash methodology. The ESA deficit-to-GDP ratio fell to 3.4%, from 3.6% in 2025 and 3.7% in 2024.

Under cash accounting, revenues rose by 10.3% year on year and expenditure by 0.8%. Under ESA, revenue growth was 4.9%, while expenditure increased by 3.9%.

Finance Ministry said part of the deficit improvement in H1 2026 under the cash definition reflected European Union funds, which are neutral under ESA, and “the management of the payment calendar”. 

The discrepancy is pronounced on the expenditure side. In the first half of 2026, expenditure was RON19.4bn higher under ESA than under the cash methodology, compared with a gap of RON7.5bn a year earlier. The Finance Ministry acknowledged that “recorded obligations” contribute to the gap, as ESA accounting recognises obligations that are not included in cash expenditure. The scale of the expenditure discrepancy remains unexplained in detail, though.

Revenues were RON9.0bn lower under ESA, reversing the RON7.5bn positive difference recorded in the same period of 2025. The discrepancy is explained by the "receipts of European funds, neutral in the ESA methodology," the Ministry explains.