Economic results for 2018

Romanias economic performance in the first quarter of 2018 is better than last year, says the Government

Roxana Vasile, 09.05.2018, 13:24

Openly at odds with the Government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the right-of-centre President Klaus Iohannis Monday called on PM Viorica Dancila to step down, for the second time in just a few days. This time around, the President spoke about what he regards as the economic under-performance of the current Cabinet, the third appointed by the Social Democrats since they won the parliamentary elections in December 2016.

Klaus Iohannis says the public budget is subject to tremendous pressure, as overall expenditure is rising, and the evolution of public finances is completely inadequate. He also criticised the Government for failing to implement major investments and to turn the economic growth into an increase in revenues.

Klaus Iohannis: “After nearly one and a half years of Social Democratic rule, with this highly questionable salary increase charade, we have no roads, no highways, no schools, no hospitals. What the Social Democrats really do is mortgage the future of this country. They raise salaries and pensions and disregard important investments in infrastructure, or investments required for the development of the country.

The Government was quick to respond. On Tuesday, deputy PM Viorel Stefan presented information on the budget implementation in the first months of 2018. According to him, the economic parameters for the first quarter are higher than in the corresponding period of 2017. Budget revenues went up by nearly 12%. Last month alone, the Fiscal Agency collected 17% more money than in April last year. As for the budget deficit, the deputy PM says that most of the funds were earmarked for investments, which amount to double the sums allotted last year.

Viorel Stefan: “Four months into the year, we notice that the revenues to the general public budget amount to over 19 billion euros. Compared to the corresponding period of last year, this means an 11.8% increase. This figure includes both the amounts collected by the Fiscal Agency, and those brought in by operations run by other public institutions.

The confidence of the Government is based, among other things, on international economic reports. The latest one, made public by the World Bank, says Romanias economy will continue to grow in 2018, by up to 5.1%.

Still, the war between President Klaus Iohannis and the Social Democratic Party shows no sign of being over. On the contrary, both sides seem to fuel it, with deputy PM recently claiming that between 2014 and 2017, the only year when public revenues dropped was 2016, when Romania was ruled by a cabinet of technocrats that President Iohannis more than once described as being “his own.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)