Eastern Balkans in July 2026: the most important developments in economy
Eastern Balkans, July 2026: the month was dominated by Romania's public finances and a run of investment announcements. On July 2 Electro-Alfa International and SGB-SMIT Group opened a EUR 20 million plant in northeastern Romania, and on July 3 an employers' association said confidence in the economy needed to be restored. Rating agencies began screening Romania's public finances for a sovereign update on July 13, Fitch started a review on July 15, and the finance minister met Moody's on July 17. The central bank held its policy rate at 6.5% on July 9, citing "very high uncertainty". The Prime Minister said six laws must pass to unlock the remaining EUR 4.5 billion in Resilience grants, and the EU Recovery Facility warned that six pending bills could cost that amount in lost funds.
Energy and water supply came next. The Danube fell to its lowest flow in 30 years on July 17 and irrigation restrictions were imposed. One Cernavodă reactor closed on July 28 and the second on July 29, halting all nuclear generation, and the Prime Minister urged energy savings. Nuclearelectrica and its private partner responded to government criticism of the small modular reactor project, which Romania had declined to reassess on July 16. The Neptun Deep offshore platform in the Black Sea was installed, with gas extraction expected in 2027.
A cyberattack on the Land Registration Agency, reported on July 23, wiped the property registry and halted property transactions nationwide; authorities are investigating. Digi listed its Spanish subsidiary after a EUR 287 million IPO, and Romania's M&A market rose nearly 50% to USD 6 billion in the first half.
In Bulgaria, the Botas gas deal with Turkey was frozen for 15 months and renegotiations began, while Vassilev urged that the contract be terminated. Bulgaria has the fourth-largest current account deficit in the EU and posted the EU's worst quarterly budget balance. It objected to a new EU sanctions package against Russia on July 9 and backed it on July 14 after its reservations were addressed. On July 30 the government declared two Lukoil firms national security assets.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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