The total volume of public investments amounts to approximately 163.8 billion lei in the 2026 budget, almost 25.6 billion lei more than in 2025, which raises their share to over 8% of GDP, compared to 7.2% in the previous year, the Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday.
"The 2026 budget puts investments at the center of economic policy. The total volume of investments reaches approximately 163.8 billion lei, almost 25.6 billion lei more than in 2025, which raises their share to over 8% of GDP, compared to 7.2% in the previous year. Most of these investments are supported by European funds, which exceed 110 billion lei, i.e. approximately two-thirds of the total," a release from the Ministry of Finance issued to AGERPRES reads.
According to the cited source, the budget allocated to European funds increases by over 40% compared to last year (78 billion lei), by integrating funding from cohesion policy, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and the SAFE instrument for strengthening defense capabilities. Of this amount, approximately 6 billion lei represent advances for projects financed through SAFE, through which Romania can benefit by 2030 from approximately 16.2 billion euros.
The Ministry of Finance also specifies that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan remains an essential component of the 2026 budget. Romania still has to attract over 10 billion euros from the European Commission, and many of the projects are already in advanced stages of implementation.
By August 2026, major investments must be completed, such as the Moldovan Motorway, hospital infrastructure projects and investments in energy, energy efficiency and urban mobility.
"In order to maximize the impact of European funds and limit the pressure on public debt, the 2026 budget gives a greater share to grant financing compared to loans. This reconfiguration was possible following the amendment to the NRRP approved in the fall of last year, which allowed the plan to be adapted to the current fiscal-budgetary context, marked by the excessive deficit procedure and the adjustment trajectory agreed with the European Commission," the cited source reads.
In this process, the Ministry of Finance supported the transfer of important projects from the loan component to the grant component, including the Moldovan Motorway and the Renovation Wave programs, investments with a major impact on the economy and for the modernization of local communities.
The draft budget for 2026 is built on a deficit estimated at 6.2% of GDP, or 127.7 billion lei, a level that would decrease to 5.1% of GDP in 2027, according to the document published by the Ministry of Finance.
The Gross Domestic Product is estimated to grow by 1%, to 2,045 billion lei in 2026.
Comentează