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Anca Dragu (USR): Public debt exceeded 50% of GDP; we head quickly towards the wall.
USR Senator Anca Dragu drew attention, on Monday, that the public debt has exceeded 50% of GDP, and, according to the Fiscal-Budgetary Responsibility Law, the Government must come up, as soon as possible, with a plan of measures to reduce it, told Agerpres.
"Romania's public debt exceeded 50% of GDP, being 50.1%, i.e. 706.5 billion lei, at the level of February 2023. Under these conditions, the Fiscal-Budgetary Responsibility Law provides that, when the public debt exceeds 50% of GDP, the Government must come, as soon as possible, with a plan of measures to reduce the public debt in relation to GDP. At this moment, we are heading rapidly towards the wall and the Government is not doing anything, it is not coming with a program of measures, on the contrary, PNL-PSD are concerned about the rotation, who, what ministries he takes over," Dragu, former minister of finance, said at the Parliament.
In her opinion, "the country's finances are falling apart" and the cost of the debt "is very high."
"The loans in 2022 and in 2023 will exceed 30 billion lei, which means about 30% of all pensions paid in Romania in one year, about as much as is collected from public income from the profit tax, almost as much is also collected from the tax on income, on salaries and other sources assimilated to salaries, means about five to six times what the state could pay for a hot meal for all students in Romania in a year," she added.
The USR senator claims that the high interest rate that Romania pays reflects "the lack of confidence of investors in the Government's policies, an unsustainability of public finances."
"Romania pays somewhere around 7-8% interest rate, and the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries pay below 3%. Those who give us these loans are worried about the fact that the public debt is increasing, the expenses are uncontrollable and the Government does not come with any set of measures," Dragu said.
The solution proposed by the USR senator is a plan of measures that must be advanced by the Government and analyzed with all the responsible factors.
"The Government can come up with a plan of measures that we can discuss openly with all the responsible factors, and it must also be discussed with the European Commission. Let's not forget that Romania is the only country in the European Union that is in this excessive deficit procedure, due to the fabulous budget deficits from 2018 - 2019," indicated Anca Dragu.
She believes that Romania will not receive a single leu from the PNRR this year.
"This year we have to close the second tranche, we have to renegotiate this package depending on the macroeconomic conditions, we have to send the third and fourth requests. I think that, this year, Romania will not receive a single leu from the PNRR, unfortunately," Dragu opined.
