„If banks were to reach an exposure level beyond which they believe they can no longer lend the state, then financing the budget gap becomes problematic,” Isarescu told a financial forum. „Our physical limit for a high deficit is rather stringent.”
Isarescu said banking exposure to the local market has increased to around 15%, from earlier levels of 3.5%.
Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu said last week that the country’s public debt is expected to widen to around 40% of the gross domestic product by end-2011 from approximately 30% of GDP currently.
In the absence of the recent additional spending cut measures agreed with the International Monetary Fund, the country’s government debt would reach 50% of GDP in 2011, Vladescu said.
End February, Romania’s public debt stood at around EUR37 billion, or some 29% of the GDP.