April 4, 2026 UPDATE
The latest news from RRI
Newsroom, 04.04.2026, 20:00
Ordinance – The Romanian government has approved the second package of intervention measures on the fuel market, after the decision to cap the commercial markup on gasoline and diesel, which came into force on April 1. This involves reducing the excise duty on standard diesel by 36 bani including the VAT per liter, after more than a month of price increases at the pump, during which it approached 11 lei (approx. 2.2 Euros). The ordinance will enter into force next week and will be in effect as long as the fuel price crisis persists, both internationally and domestically. The regulatory law also introduces a solidarity contribution for companies that extract oil from Romania, funds from which part of the excise duty reduction would be supported. The government will take money to cover this decrease from three sources, namely the additional VAT collected during the period of price increases, the state budget and the solidarity fund. 60% of the exceptional profits that certain companies in the sector have made since prices began to rise will go into that fund. The President of IMM Romania (the SMEs sector), Florin Jianu, claims that the Government’s measure to reduce the excise duty on diesel is insufficient and says that there is room for a more consistent decrease. He recalls that Romania has one of the highest excise duties on oil in the EU. In his opinion, a broader intervention by the government is needed.
Rating – The reconfirmation of Romania’s sovereign rating highlights the confidence of international agencies in the authorities’ ability to continue fiscal consolidation and to maintain macroeconomic stability, said Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare. On Friday, the financial rating agency S&P Global Ratings reconfirmed Romania’s sovereign rating at BBB-/A-3 for long-term and short-term debt, while maintaining a negative outlook. The decision reconfirms Romania’s placement in the investment-grade category and reflects, according to the agency, the authorities’ continued efforts to consolidate fiscally, in the context of domestic and external economic challenges. According to the agency’s assessment, the budget deficit is estimated to be reduced to 6.5% of GDP in 2026 and to 5.5% of GDP in 2027, compared to 7.7% in 2025, against the backdrop of fiscal adjustment measures already implemented. At the same time, investments financed from European funds continue to represent an important factor supporting economic growth. The report highlights that Romania’s economy is going through a period of moderate growth, with an estimated advance of 0.25% in 2026, with the growth rate expected to improve in the period 2027-2029, to an average of approximately 2.5%.
Religious holidays – In Romania, approximately 24 thousand employees of the Interior Ministry, police officers, gendarmes, firefighters and border guards, are mobilized at national level in the context of Sunday’s celebrations: the Orthodox Palm Sunday and the Catholic Easter. They will act to prevent incidents and efficiently manage operational situations, especially in areas with high levels of people. Special attention is paid to places of worship and religious events, where over 1.2 million believers are expected to participate. In Bucharest, on Saturday, thousands of people from several areas of the country participated in the traditional Palm Sunday pilgrimage. The Interior Ministry crews ensured the necessary measures for the safe conduct of the event. For good organization, temporary traffic restrictions were also established. We remind you that Orthodox Easter (the Resurrection of Jesus Christ), the greatest celebration of Christianity, is marked on April 12. It is the holiday that brought humanity the hope of salvation and eternal life, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Easter has been celebrated since the apostolic era.
NATO – The Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Mircea Abrudean, highlighted, on Saturday, in a message sent on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the establishment of NATO, that the unity of the North Atlantic Alliance is essential to respond to security challenges and to protect the values that define us. NATO remains an essential pillar of Euro-Atlantic security, capable of reinventing itself and responding firmly to an increasingly unpredictable strategic environment, said, in turn, the former Deputy Secretary General of the Alliance, Romanian Mircea Geoană. NATO is a political-military alliance and was established on April 4, 1949, by signing the Washington Treaty. Its initial goal was to ensure collective security and to counter Soviet expansion after World War II. Along with the United States, the founding countries included Canada, France, Great Britain and other nations from Western Europe. Currently, the North Atlantic Alliance comprises 32 member states. Romania became a member of NATO in 2004. Essentially, the organization acts as a collective security alliance that aims to ensure mutual defense through military and political means if a member state is threatened by an external country.
Securities – The Romanian Ministry of Finance will launch a new issue of Treasury securities, with significantly higher interest rates than those offered by commercial banks on deposits. Thus, those interested will be able to invest between April 6 and May 8 in these securities with maturities of 1, 3 and 5 years and annual interest rates of 6.50%, 7% and 7.50%, respectively. Income obtained from investing in government securities is non-taxable, transferable and can be redeemed in advance. In addition, an investor has the freedom to make one or more subscriptions within an issue. At the same time, investors can withdraw from the program during the subscription period by a simple request. The funds accumulated through these government securities will be used to finance the country’s budget deficit and support the public debt.
Energy – The European Union is considering “all options”, including fuel rationing and releasing more oil from strategic reserves, as it braces for a “long-lasting” energy shock caused by the Middle East war, the bloc’s energy commissioner, Dan Jorgensen, told the Financial Times. “This will be a long-term crisis… energy prices will be higher for a very long time,” the commissioner said. He also said he “does not rule out” another release of oil from strategic reserves “if the situation gets worse.” Last month, EU countries participated in the largest release of strategic oil reserves in history in a bid to curb rising prices after the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf.
Pfizer – The Romanian Health Minister Alexandru Rogobete (from the Social Democratic Party) has said that he is considering opening direct negotiations with Pfizer so that, on account of the 600 million Euros owed by Romania, it could receive innovative (inaveitiv) medicines from the company and thus introduce modern therapies into the public health system. He explained that the Romanian authorities ordered more doses of anti-COVID vaccines during the pandemic than would have been necessary for the entire population of the country. We recall that a court in Brussels sentenced Romania, in the first instance, to pay 600 million Euros, the remaining balance for 29 million anti-COVID vaccines ordered from Pfizer and which were no longer purchased. Pfizer sued the two countries in 2023 to enforce the execution of the procurement contracts, which, following the end of the pandemic, Poland and Romania refused to fully fulfill. The American manufacturer complains that after signing the contract in 2021, the authorities in Bucharest invoked logistics and storage problems and had an indecisive behavior in successively accepting and refusing the renegotiation options they received.
Iran – Iran and the United States on Saturday entered a race against time to find one of the two occupants of the first American plane to crash on Iranian soil since the start of the war, AFP reports. The Iranian army said it shot down the aircraft, an F-15E fighter-bomber. US media reported that one of the two pilots ejected mid-flight and was evacuated during a Special Forces raid in southwestern Iran, while the fate of the second remains unknown. Tehran urged locals to search for the American pilot and offered a reward for his surrender. The Iranian military also said it had shot down another American plane, an A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft, which then crashed in the Persian Gulf. US President Donald Trump gave Iran 48 hours on Saturday to reach a deal with Washington or reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Republican threatening that otherwise the United States would unleash hell on them, AFP reports. Tehran has rejected a 48-hour truce proposal from the US, an Iranian source told the Iranian Fars agency on Friday, Reuters reports. Also on Friday, the US newspaper Wall Street Journal wrote that current mediation efforts led by several countries, notably Pakistan, for a ceasefire between the US and Israel, on the one hand, and Iran on the other, are at an impasse. (LS)
