Deputy PM Barna: We intend to have budget in Parliament in first part of February

This year's budget could be debated in Parliament in the first part of February, the big challenge being the allocation of money for investments, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna, co-chair of the Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity (USR PLUS) said on Tuesday. "It is, indeed, these weeks' priority. We intend to have the budget in Parliament in the first part of February and to have it adopted, in order to enter into a functional logic. It is a distinct context from the period and beginning of the crisis which we experienced last year (...) and we need to build a budget that lays the groundwork for a resumption of the economy, so we are talking about a budget that falls within a 7 percent deficit. For that reason, the measures have already been taken, the freezing of public sector wages, for example, are thought out precisely from this perspective, because last year public sector wages increased by 8 percent, given that the European average was 3 percent. Or, at the moment, we can no longer continue this trend. (...) The big challenge is how to build this budget, so that we also have the resources to have investment money," Dan Barna told private radio broadcaster Digi FM. According to him, the current situation is complex, taking into account the crisis generated by the pandemic, and he voiced his conviction that in our country the vaccination campaign will be successful and appreciated that next year there may be an upward trend in terms of budget if reforms are being carried out this year.AGERPRES(RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)