Page 76 - Central & Southeast Outlook 2020

was for consumption, not investment,” Tanase said in a comment for ​bne IntelliNews​. “The issue of Romania’s foreign debt has been disregarded by almost all governments in power since 1990,” he added.
In the private sector, in December Romania’s BCR, which is part of Austrian Erste Bank group, successfully placed the first senior non-preferred bonds in Romania and the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).
4.10 ​Debt - Serbia
Serbia has set as a goal to cut the share of its public debt to 45% of GDP by 2024.​It is projected to decline to 51.4% of GDP in 2020 from 52.9% estimated for 2019, according to the government’s fiscal strategy for 2020-2022.
The government has also assessed that issuing dinar- and euro-denominated securities is the best option in terms of lowered risk to its public debt goal.
In 2019, Serbia successfully placed a ten-year Eurobond issue, raising €1.5bn, and decided to issue US dollar-denominated long-term bonds on international markets in order to replace debt maturing in 2020.
The government has also decided to buy back early long-term US dollar-denominated securities issued on international markets.
4.11 ​Debt - Slovenia
Slovenia’s debt-to-GDP ratio has been on a declining path since its peak at 82.6% in 2015.​Supported by the low interest rate environment, active public debt management, the general government surplus and privatisation proceeds, the ratio is expected to decrease significantly from 70.4% in 2018 to 63.1% in 2020 and to fall below the 60% threshold in 2021, according to the European Commission.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has warned that Slovenia needs further fiscal adjustments to reduce public debt sustainably.
Slovenia's public debt fell from a peak of 83% of GDP in 2015 to 70% in 2018 as the country achieved a budget surplus and strong nominal GDP growth. The declining trend is expected to continue.
Slovenia is rated ‘AA-‘ by S&P and ‘A’ by Fitch.
76​ CESE Outlook 2020​ ​ ​www.intellinews.com