The Liberal governemnt in Bucharest has prepared a second budget adjustment in 2019, intending to pass the draft budget during Thursday’s meeting.
The Romanian government has prepared a 2nd budget adjustment for 2019 in order to deal with a lack of revenues totaling almost 3.75 billion Euros, which will push the budget deficit at 4.3% of the GDP, that is by almost 50% more than the maximum ceiling required by the EU. More funds will be channeled towards the ministries of labor, healthcare, regional development, finances and the business environment, the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Protection and Guard Service, among others. Funds will be cut from the ministries of education, interior, transport and agriculture. All the funds taken from the aforementioned ministries come from projects that cannot be implemented by the end of the year, the authorities say.
The finance minister Florin Cîţu explained that this rectification was necessary given the budget execution reported up to the present moment, and also given the fact that the former Social Democratic government drafted the budget based on false information, overestimating revenues. According to minister Florin Cîţu they are thus putting an end to a practice according to which the budget deficit was being artificially reduced at the end of the year. He recalled that, last year, the European Commission specified that this practice was illegal and it should be stopped.
Florin Cîţu: “By this budget adjustment, we are putting an end to a practice according to which the money that had to be used for social expenses was being channeled towards the PSD local authorities. At the same time, we are ending a practice according to which at the end of the year the deficit was artificially being reduced by putting off certain payments for the next year. The rectification observes the law and through this rectification we will show what has been stolen, from where and what has been overestimated. This is the purpose of a rectification, to ensure the funds necessary for investments, the payment of pensions, salaries and benefits, medical leaves, for medicines, and all these were not included in the budget at the beginning of the year.”
In reply, Cristian Socol, one of the members of the former Social Democratic government involved in the drafting of the governing program, says that the budget deficit could be maintained at around 3% of the GDP. He claims that the new government is wasting the public money to later put the blame on the disastrous situation left behind by the Social Democrats. He believes that some of the expenses included in the budget rectification bill could have been phased out and revenues could have been boosted by improving tax collection efforts. (translation by L. Simion)
Useful Links
Copyright © . All rights reserved