Public debt service up by 10bn euros

The government public debt service reached 13.3 billion euros
in 2009, 10 billion euros more than in 2008, due to the rise in
refinancing of government bonds amid the Ministry of Finance
borrowing on very short term. For 2010, the Ministry of Finance
expects the debt service, i.e. the outstanding instalments on
principal and interest rates to go down by around 2.2 billion
euros, to 11.1 billion euros. Government bond refinancing accounted
for 82.4% of the overall government public debt service. Over the
course of last year, the weight of the foreign deficit moved from
the private to the public sector. The budget deficit became a
threat, and is reflected in the overall foreign debt due to the
state’s increasing need to borrow in order to cover its expenses.
The foreign debt of the government sector reached 12.5 billion
euros nine months into the year, up by around 2.2 billion euros on
the end of 2008, according to data from the NBR (National Bank of
Romania).