PM Ciolacu: After two unfortunate governments, deficit stands at 9.2pct
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu on Wednesday stated that Romania started in 2019 with a budget deficit of 2.7-2.9% of GDP, and "after two unfortunate governments" it reached a deficit of 9.2%, noting that he would have liked the fiscal measures to have been taken earlier," since there were clear elements that it is very unlikely to fall into the assumed deficit for this year."
Ciolacu mentioned that he hopes that the blocking of European funds will be avoided in the negotiations with the European Commission.
"It started in 2019 with a public debt of 37%, as far as I know, and a budget deficit of 2.7-2.9. And, after two unfortunate governments, we reached a deficit of 9.2, while being the only state in the European Union that has an agreement on the excessive deficit. There are many measures being taken and I would have liked these measures to have been taken earlier, since there were clear elements that it is very unlikely we fall within the assumed deficit for this year," stated Ciolacu, at a joint conference with the Minister of Finance, Marcel Bolos, in which a plan of 50 measures to reduce expenses was announced.
Marcel Ciolacu specified, however, that economy is stable in Romania.
"We are not talking about an economic crisis, we are not talking about a recession in Romania. We are simply talking about things that we committed to do before the Commission and I think that the most important thing is to continue this dialogue with the Commission so that we won't see happening the worst thing for any member state of the European Union, namely the blocking of European funds. I think that we will more than certainly manage to avoid this together, to have a fair negotiation with the Commission, with elements both in terms of expenditures, but also the revenues, and from here let's have a very correct and assumed plan for the next period," added the prime minister.
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