Exclusive-Romania says 2026 funding needs will grow but plans to manage debt costs

By Luiza Ilie

BUCHAREST, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Romania's gross funding needs for 2026 are expected to grow to between 275 billion lei and 285 billion lei ($63 billion-$65 billion), but it will seek to manage public debt costs through a range of measures, debt agency chief Stefan Nanu said on Tuesday.

Next year's budget deficit will fall to around 6% to 6.5% of economic output, which compares favourably with this year's target of 8.4% and over 9% in 2024.

That said, debt to be rolled over will stand at a little over 150 billion lei next year, up from an estimated 99 billion this year, Nanu said.

The European Union state, which is aiming to lower the bloc's highest budget deficit after heavy election spending, will downsize gross Eurobond supply, pre-finance early 2026 needs and use debt liability instruments to manage public debt costs.

"We are mindful about the 2026 refinancing risk caused by challenging market conditions in the first part of this year when we had to issue short-term maturities quite significantly," Nanu told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Therefore, this partial pre-financing as well as liability management we did this year via domestic switches and Eurobond tenders will ensure gross issuance next year gets closer to this year's."

The debt agency lifted this year's funding target by 10 billion lei to 269 billion lei on Tuesday to pre-fund early 2026 needs. It also switched maturing Eurobonds in October, which has lowered next year's external debt redemptions to 3.5 billion euros from 4.25 billion euros initially.

Romania plans to use an array of non-market funding sources next year to significantly reduce gross Eurobond issuance to 10 billion euros. By comparison, it has issued roughly 16 billion euros worth of Eurobonds this year, making it one of the biggest emerging market debt issuers in the world.

Non-market funding includes securing 6 billion euros worth of EU recovery and resilience funds as well as tapping the new defence funding mechanism SAFE.

Romania also plans to gain 1.5 billion euros from international lenders such as the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as well as 3 billion euros in mostly loan-format private placements with "some structures already in advanced discussions," Nanu said.

The broad coalition government has raised some taxes and has begun cutting state spending, but with more measures needed to be approved, a budget plan for 2026 could be delayed.

"Several private placements planned for January and 2026's first Eurobond will depend on the adoption of next year's budget, which could be delayed through January," Nanu said.

($1 = 4.3690 lei)

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)