Ministry of Finance: Budget deficit of 0.7% of GDP after two months, half compared to January-February 2025
The execution of the general consolidated budget in the first two months of 2026 ended with a deficit in nominal terms of 14.23 billion lei, or 0.70% of GDP, down by half compared to the deficit of 30.24 billion lei, or 1.58% of GDP, corresponding to the first two months of 2025, the Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday.
According to the Ministry of Finance, this development represents a decrease of 0.88 percentage points in the budget deficit as a share of GDP.
Total revenues amounted to 103.73 billion lei in the first two months of 2026, up 15.7% compared to the same period in 2025. Expressed as a share of GDP, total revenues advanced by 0.37 percentage points, of which 0.20 percentage points came from current revenues, mainly VAT and payroll and income taxes.
'Net VAT revenues recorded 23.75 billion lei, up 20.6% compared to last year. The dynamics were influenced by the acceleration of gross VAT revenues, by 20.3% year-on-year, amid the increase in collection performance. At the same time, there was an increase in VAT refunds to 7.22 billion lei in the period January-February 2026, compared to 6.08 billion lei in the same period in 2025, ensuring an infusion of liquidity and more money in the economy to support private investments,' the cited source informs.
Income and salary tax revenues totaled 13.46 billion lei, registering a 22.3% increase compared to last year, driven by the significant advance in dividend tax revenues of +57.6%, due to concentrated distributions in December 2025, the Ministry of Finance explained.
Payments related to projects from non-reimbursable external funds were 9.72 billion lei, including the 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 financial frameworks, agricultural subsidies, the Modernization Fund and the NRRP.
The 2026 budget is built based on a 1% economic growth. The budget deficit is estimated at 135.684 billion lei, respectively 6.2% of GDP. AGERPRES(RO - writing by: Andreea Marinescu; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)
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