The ratings on Romania balance our view of the country's significant economic growth potential, moderate general government debt, and substantial reduction of its current account deficit with the challenges that we believe the government faces to rebalance the economy's growth composition and to address the structural weaknesses in its public finances, its still large external imbalances, and its dependence on debt financing. The Romanian economy has suffered a severe recession, which we believe was triggered in 2009, mainly by the abrupt contraction in domestic demand resulting from the narrowing of the commercial credit channel. The fall in external demand has exacerbated the situation. In 2009, the current account deficit dropped to 4.4% of GDP, from 11.6% in 2008, and GDP
