Romania’s interim Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare said he was confident that Standard & Poor’s would take into account the country’s fiscal progress in its sovereign rating review due on October 2, but warned that early elections could put the investment-grade rating at risk.

Speaking on public broadcaster TVR on October 1, Nazare said Romania had reduced its budget deficit by 1.6 percentage points compared with 2025 (speaking of January-August budget execution), while investment spending had increased. The deficit was RON27bn (more than €5bn)lower than a year earlier, while investment spending had risen by RON25bn to RON97bn by the end of August, he said.

“In these months – May, June, July, August – even though we had an interim government, we did not have a fiscal slippage,” Nazare said, adding that the performance had helped Romania demonstrate progress to rating agencies.

Romania is targeting a cash deficit of 6.2% of GDP and an ESA deficit of 6% this year. Nazare said the targets had been considered achievable by the European Commission and rating agencies and that he had “great confidence” that S&P would reflect the fiscal improvements in its assessment.

S&P currently rates Romania at BBB-, the lowest investment-grade level, with a negative outlook. The agency’s review comes after Parliament rejected the cabinet proposed by prime minister-designate Siegfried Mureșan on September 30, extending the political crisis that has weighed on Romania’s fiscal outlook and financial markets.

Nazare warned that prolonged political uncertainty could complicate the preparation and adoption of Romania’s 2027 budget. “We need a 2027 budget agreed by all parties and adopted by the end of the year, because investors are looking at these aspects,” he said.

He said an early-election timetable could threaten the implementation of the 2027 budget and, consequently, the country’s investment-grade rating. “A scenario of early elections that would result in a downgrade would take several years to recover,” Nazare said.

The minister also said fiscal consolidation was necessary independently of pressure from Brussels or rating agencies, as public debt has risen above 60% of GDP. “It’s not just a deficit problem, it’s also a debt problem,” he said, arguing that credible fiscal planning was necessary to support investment and reduce financing costs.