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The Ministry of Finance has taken the first steps in preparing Romania's 2023-2025 tax and finance strategy as well as the 2023 national budget, and one of its actions regards prioritising public investment projects, Finance Minister Adrian Caciu told a news briefing at the end of a government sitting on Wednesday.
"We have taken the first steps in preparing the 2023-2025 tax and finance strategy and the national budget for 2023; one of the actions regards prioritising significant public investment projects. The updated value of the priority investment projects is 234.3 billion lei, and a remaining 139 billion lei to be funded before their completion. The most important ministry that manages significant public investment projects, or the most important number of investment projects, is the Ministry of Transport, with 94 projects of an updated value of 180 billion lei; it is followed by the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, which manages 16 projects of an updated value of 3.3 billion lei, and the Ministry of the Environment, with 12 investment projects of an updated value of 6.9 billion lei," said the minister.
During the government sitting, Caciu also released the results of the budget implementation, "with its pros and cons", which clearly show, according to him, the trajectory of fiscal consolidation that the Romanian state has undertaken to follow to reduce the government deficit.
"Six months into the year, the government deficit is lower by 1.15 percentage points from last year, having reached 1.71% of GDP, and last year it was 2.88% of GDP. This is an implementation with improved tax revenue collection efficiency, an increase of 0.6 percentage points in the collection of tax revenues and of 26.5% as against last year, efficient absorption of European funds in the sense of an increase in absorption by 16.4% as against the same period of last year, and on the expenditure side with a cautious approach of staff expenses, with an unfortunately negative effect, but predicted in the budget law, of interest costs, an effect that comes from an increase in interest in the 2nd half of 2021 and also in the first part of 2022, and with delayed investment projects due to or mainly caused by rising prices for construction materials, which have prevented builders from continuing activity on construction sites, a delay that all the main public employers, all the colleagues in the government will have make up for in the 2nd half of this year, so that we reach our investment target pledged in the national budget law," said Caciu. AGERPRES
