FinMin Citu: Healthcare spending up 45pct on initial budget

Government's healthcare outlays have increased throughout the year by about 45% on the initial budget and if necessary we will allocate additional resources, Finance Minister Florin Citu told a news conference on Thursday on budget revision.

"For healthcare, a priority area this year, we have allocated more resources; in fact compared with the initial budget the amounts allocated for healthcare have increased by about 45%. We are talking about the settlement of medical leave, medicines, healthcare equipment, bonuses for those who have been on the forefront in the fight against this virus, and of course we didn't do what the Social Democratic Party (PSD) used to do: leaving no stockpiles. I have provided additional stockpiles to be ready for what's to come. Healthcare spending overall have gone up about 45% throughout the year against the initial budget and we will continue to look at the second part, if we still need to provide more resources; we are ready to allocate additional resources for this sector," said Citu.

In terms of education spending, Citu underlined that everything possible was done to ensure the good development of Romanian education by the end of this year.

He added that the new budget revision also supplemented resources for the Ministry of Transport, so that the budget of this ministry in 2020 "is a record one; it is the largest investment budget allocated by the Romanian government."

"Transport, healthcare, and education are areas where PSD cut every year at budget revisions, just look back. Every year, PSD would cut significant amounts from three sectors: investment, healthcare, and education. We do not do that; on the contrary, we have provided additional resources for these important sectors and in this difficult moment that the Romanian economy is going through. The Ministry of Labour, the one everyone is looking at today, has had the largest appropriations all the way back at beginning of the year. It started with the largest appropriations, and with this revision it reaches almost 10 billion lei extra," said Citu.