A series of measures were taken in December to support the economy, and these could take effect in the last quarter of this year, Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare said on Tuesday in a press conference.
"In December, we took very important steps through which we tried to support the economy. And we did it through very important payments for the Ministry of Development, for the Ministry of Transport, to reduce many arrears, I am referring here to sick leave, very important amounts that had a very important effect. Because, for example, at the Ministry of Development, all programs were paid up to date: I am talking about the PNRR, the PNDL, the CNI and of course the Anghel Saligny program up to date, until the moment the platform was stopped, an unusual matter for the Ministry of Development, where you know very well that they entered 2025 with arrears of 6.5 billion [lei - editor's note] and enter 2026 clean. There were a lot of payments made on European funds, co-financing that we granted precisely with the idea of supporting the economy. My hope is that all these measures taken will have an effect in the fourth quarter," said Alexandru Nazare.
He was asked by journalists whether there is a risk that the economy will enter a technical recession.
The president of the CFA Romania Association, Adrian Codirlasu, recently stated that the decrease in consumption intensified in November, so there is a risk that we will also register a reduction in the gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the previous quarter and that we will have a technical recession.
"We have an increase in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the third quarter of 2024 of 1.7%. I would say that this increase in this quarter somehow guarantees us that we will close the whole year with a slight plus. Lower than the one recorded in 2024. In 2024 we had 0.9% GDP growth. In 2025 we will probably have around 0.5% or maybe slightly less, but it will be plus. This is the good news. The less good news: it is possible that we will have a technical recession in 2025 because we have a 0.2% decrease in the third quarter versus the second quarter," Adrian Codirlasu told AGERPRES at the beginning of this month.
He said that it is possible that a decrease in consumption will also be recorded in December.
Moreover, Adrian Codirlasu says that consumption will also be "hit" in 2026 because purchasing power is lost, but Romania's chance is to attract European funds.
"It could be our record for attracting European funds. If we do the amount, we would have access to somewhere around 20-25 billion euros to take. I don't think we have the capacity to take it all, but at least to exceed 15 billion euros. Historically, we took somewhere around 11-12 billion euros. That was the maximum in 2023", Adrian Codirlasu also stated.
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