Bloomberg: Romania gives blood donors better rates on government bonds. The program has raised about $600 million since the start of 2025.

Since the start of 2025, Romania has raised about $604 million from thousands of individual investors through a program offering blood donors higher yields on government bonds, according to Bloomberg.

Blood donors can buy bonds yielding more than 7% a year — about one percentage point more than other retail investors can get.

The program helps the government raise money while encouraging blood donations. Romania had the largest budget deficit in the European Union last year, and individual investors, including buyers of “donor” bonds, now account for nearly a fifth of all government borrowing.

The government spends almost nothing to promote the program, Treasury chief Stefan Nanu said. It launched in 2023 in partnership with a popular radio station, and television channels have since covered it at no cost to the government.

Bloomberg did not say how much the program has raised since its launch, though it reported that thousands of individual investors have bought bonds at the higher rate offered to blood donors.

Romania has exceeded the EU’s budget deficit limit of 3% of GDP every year since 2021. Its deficit reached 7.9% of GDP in 2025, higher than in any other EU country and slightly above the government’s 7.8% target.

In June 2025, the European Commission warned that Romania could lose access to some EU funding if the situation did not change. Bucharest has since cut spending and approved tax increases, but authorities missed the deadline for some necessary reforms. In August 2026, EU officials threatened to withhold a €770 million tranche of economic recovery funding unless Romania quickly passed a law on public-sector pay.