JP Morgan, which had made the surprise announcement about including Romania’s government paper in an emerging market index in 2013, was the highest climber in 2016, going from nine to five. Erste Bank, which owns the largest local lender by assets, BCR, ranks sixth among dealers of Romania’s international bonds.
Romania has become an increasingly important client to the major investment banks, turning into a constant issuer especially of euro-denominated government paper, which allowed it to borrow for longer and longer terms and better yields.
Total public sector foreign debt reached EUR94.3 billion in mid year, about EUR2 billion higher than in 2016, up 30% on 2008, according to Romania’ central bank data. Total public debt tripled in ten years to EUR75 billion in 2016 and EUR78 billion this year, according to the Finance Ministry’s statistics.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)