Presidential Advisor Marinescu: Budget- excessively optimistic forecasts, overvalued revenues, low investments

Presidential Advisor Cosmin Marinescu presented on Friday at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace a review of the state budget on 2019, arguing that the Government's macroeconomic forecasts are "excessively optimistic," budget revenues are "over-estimated" and based on promises, while expenditure are "underestimated" and have "deliberate negative" adjustments according to Agerpres.

According to Marinescu, the macroeconomic forecasts are "excessively optimistic" and there are "risks in terms of the stability of public finance". He added that 5.5% economic growth is not a "responsible" prognosis, as Romania's partner economies in the EU are facing problems.

The Presidential Adviser said that the revenues mentioned in the budget are "on paper" and "will not be collected in reality", resulting in "sources of expenditure being uncertain, ungrounded."

Cosmin Marinescu also drew attention to the fact that the forecasts are made before the adoption of Ordinance No.114 and the international rating agencies forecast a "slowdown in economic dynamics."

In his opinion, budget revenues are "over-estimated" by 10 billion lei, or 1% of the GDP, which is "very much".

According to government documents, the Adviser also said that tax revenues of 7.5 billion lei are 'based on promises'.

At the same time, spending is "underestimated" and "deliberate negative adjustments, as could be the case for pensions", the budget for this chapter being reduced by 1.4 billion lei.

The Presidency asks the Government to "make sure that the amounts for pensions are included in the budget for the entire year."

Marinescu believes that another underestimation is Romania's contribution to the EU budget, reduced by 500 million lei "without explanation."

He argued that the budget for investments is low, with local authorities worth more than one billion lei.