Parliament to debate budget bill

The Romanian Parliament is to debate and approve the bills on the state budget and social security budget for 2017.

Leyla Cheamil, 06.02.2017, 13:36

The bills on the
state budget and social security budget for 2017 were passed on Sunday by
Parliament’s budget and finance committees. The two bills discussed in the
expert committees did not suffer major changes from the version sent by the
government. Adopted last week by Sorin Grindeanu’s cabinet and then submitted
to Parliament for debate and approval, this year’s budget is based on an
economic growth of 5.2%, a budget deficit of 3% and an annual average inflation
rate of 1.4%. In the next few days, Parliament is to vote on the two bills.
Finance Minister, Viorel Stefan:

We
hope to pass the budget bill by Tuesday or Wednesday, so that local budgets can
also be approved and things go back to normal. Until the 2017 budget law is
adopted and published in the Official Journal, the entire Romanian public
system runs on financial resources standing at one twelfth the level of the
2016 budget, which is of course insufficient.

Minister Viorel Stefan has given assurances that the
budget bill observes the general guidelines set under the governing programme.
The bill provides for an increase in pensions and salaries in the healthcare
and education sectors, as well as for other types of public sector employees.
An increase in the minimum salary to 1,450 lei as of February 1st is
also stipulated. Also, the ministries of education and healthcare will get more
money under this new budget, just like the transport and agriculture
ministries. Additional
funds are also envisaged for the Defence Ministry, which will get 2% of the
GDP, while intelligence services are to get less than last year. The
presidential administration and the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will
also receive less money.