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Four months into 2020, the deficit of the general consolidated budget has widened to 2.48 percent of GDP to 26.82 billion lei, more than half of it due to the fiscal facilities granted to fight the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Finance Ministry informs.
"The increase in the budget deficit over the first four months of this year compared to the year-ago period is mainly attributable to the unfavorable trend of budget revenues in March and April, as a result of the postponement of some of the companies' fiscal liabilities during the state of emergency (11.1 billion lei) and of additional VAT refunds of 3.11 billion lei to support liquidity in the private sector, with a significant impact in March; in April revenues returned to the positive realm. On the side of expenditures, investment expenses were by 3.15 billion lei higher compared to the same period of the previous year, and exceptional disbursements generated by the COVID-19 epidemic amounted to approximately 1.2 billion lei," said the Public Finance Ministry.
