Finance Minister Florin C\u00ee\u0163u on Tuesday announced Romania’s budget
\ndeficit in the first nine months of the year has exceeded 6% of the GDP,
\ntantamount to some \u20ac13.7 billion, which is half the value reported last year.
\nThe Romanian and global economies are undergoing the most severe crisis
\nthey’ve seen in the last 100 years. This is not just me saying this, but every
\nexpert keeping an eye on the global economy. Yet more and more experts have
\nconfirmed that Romania will overcome this period a lot better than analysts,
\nthe European Commissions and others estimated. The return to economic growth
\nhas been confirmed by a number of economic indicators, Finance Minister Florin
\nC\u00ee\u0163u told an online press conference. The Romanian official explained what
\ngenerated the high budget deficit:<\/p>\n
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\n
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Half the deficit recorded so far, namely 3.5% of the GDP, accounts for
\nfunds that remained with economic agencies by means of tax breaks, investments,
\nexceptional expenses incurred to combat the economic fallout of COVID-19. Some
\ntax obligations were postponed, and VAT returns were higher compared to the
\nperiod January-September 2019. Interest rates for the payment of tax on profit on
\ndue date represented \u20ac116 million. At
\nthe same time investments were by \u20ac1.4 billion higher than last year. Of
\ncourse, there were also exceptional payments generated by the COVID-19 crisis,
\nwhich represented some \u20ac2.11 billion. Without these expenses the deficit would
\nhave been lower, but it wouldn’t have benefited the economy. <\/p>\n
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\n
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As regards COVID-related payments, part of them are linked to active
\nmeasures such as furlough and the payment of 50% of gross salary rights to
\nemployees. According to the Finance Minister, over \u20ac6 billion was earmarked for
\ninvestment, of which a third represented non-reimbursable external funds. The
\ntargeted sectors were transports, defense, public works, health care, the
\nenvironment and agriculture. As regards payments, Florin C\u00ee\u0163u said some \u20ac224 million account for additional funds made
\navailable after pensions were increased on September 1. Bonuses and services
\nstood around the same mark, consisting of drugs and medical equipment.
\nAccording to official estimates, the budget deficit will climb to 8.6% of te
\nGDP at the end of the year, half of which is strictly linked to the
\ncoronacrisis. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over half of Romana’s budget deficit in the first nine months was generated by anti-COVID measures<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":85441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[30079,40093,40091,40092],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-87023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-budget-deficit","tag-covid-related-expenses","tag-finance-minister-florin-citu","tag-tax-breaks"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n