Romania borrows 7.2 billion lei in August: 11 government securities auctions, with coupons from 5 to 7.65%

Every month the Romanian state publishes the exact list of days on which it will borrow on the domestic market, with amounts, maturities and identification codes. For August 2026 that list adds up to 7.2 billion lei. Through Order No. 967/2026, the Ministry of Finance approved the issue prospectuses for discount treasury certificates and benchmark government bonds for August. According to the text, the money goes towards financing the state budget deficit and towards refinancing and early repayment of public debt. This is the channel aimed at institutional investors, distinct from the retail Tezaur programme, whose issues for August and September 2026 were approved separately, with direct over-the-counter subscription.

The 7.2 billion lei figure is the announced ceiling for the reference auctions. Up to 15% of the nominal amount actually allotted may be added on top, but only for benchmark bonds and only through the supplementary sessions of non-competitive offers, known by the abbreviation SSON. The order was signed on 30 July 2026 for the Minister of Finance by state secretary Florin-Alexandru Zaharia, and implementation falls to the General Directorate for Public Debt and Treasury Flow Management.

What it changes in practice

The first effect is a public calendar. The 11 auctions cover almost every working day in August, from the 3rd to the 31st, and each has its own issue and maturity date, fixed from the outset.

On the discount treasury certificate side there are two issues. The first, code ROA03UZDWG16, is auctioned on 6 August, issued on 10 August and matures on 24 February 2027, after 198 days, for 600 million lei. The second, RO5Y1LY7D1U4, is auctioned on 13 August, issued on 17 August and matures on 28 July 2027, after 345 days, for 800 million lei. Discount certificates pay no coupon: they are bought below nominal value and redeemed at nominal value, and the gain is precisely that difference.

On the bond side there are nine reopenings of already existing series, 5.8 billion lei in total, with original maturities of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 15 years. The largest reference auction is the first one, on 3 August, at one billion lei, for the series maturing in July 2028. The longest is the series maturing on 30 July 2040, auctioned on 13 August, with a residual maturity of almost 14 years and a 7.25% coupon.

Coupon rates on the reopened series run from 5.00%, on the series maturing in February 2029, to 7.65%, on the series maturing in July 2031. An important clarification is needed here: the coupon is fixed at the initial issue of the series and does not change on reopening. The effective yield a buyer obtains is set at auction, through the price paid, which may be above or below nominal value. The order announces no yields, only the historical coupons and the accrued interest per security, that is the portion of the coupon corresponding to the time elapsed since the last payment.

The second effect concerns access to these securities. Purchases are made exclusively through primary dealers, meaning the banks authorised to take part in the auctions organised by the National Bank of Romania. An individual cannot bid directly, but can submit a non-competitive offer through their own bank, if that bank holds primary dealer status. Non-competitive offers are capped at 25% of the value of each announced issue and are executed at the weighted average yield, respectively the weighted average price, resulting from the competitive offers. Credit institutions may not submit non-competitive offers as clients. The entry threshold is the nominal value of one security, 5,000 lei, the same for certificates and for bonds.

Access to the supplementary sessions is narrower still: only primary dealers that took part in the reference auction with offers in their own name and for their own account may participate, regardless of the allotment result. The amount available at each SSON is calculated by applying 15% to the sum allotted in the reference auction, rounded up to the nearest multiple of 100,000 lei.

The third effect is operational. Offers are submitted to the National Bank of Romania on the day of the auction, between 10:00 and 12:00, and on the day of supplementary sessions between 10:00 and 11:00. The result is established the same day and made public. The ministry reserves the right to increase, reduce or cancel the amount borrowed on any series, depending on financing needs and the yield obtained.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

This type of order does not amend legislation. It is an implementing act, issued month after month, that puts an existing framework into practice: the ordinance on public debt, the framework regulation on operations in government securities and the rules of the National Bank of Romania. What changes from one month to the next are the amounts, the maturities, the reopened series and the calendar.

For August 2026 the structure shows a clear preference for long maturities. Of the 7.2 billion lei, 5.8 billion goes into bonds, and of those almost half into series with residual maturity beyond six years. Only 1.4 billion is borrowed short term, through discount certificates under one year. This structure eases refinancing pressure in the immediately following years, in exchange for a higher fixed cost over the long run, because the long series carry the highest coupons.

A useful detail for market watchers: five of the nine reopened series come from prospectuses issued in 2024 and 2025, only one goes as far back as 2018, and two were launched as recently as June 2026. Reopening an older series means the state adds liquidity to an already traded security instead of fragmenting the market with new issues.

The securities in Annex No. 2 trade simultaneously on the secondary market administered by the National Bank of Romania and on the regulated market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, under a 2008 order. In practice, a buyer at auction is not obliged to hold to maturity and may sell later on the exchange at the market price.

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