PM Citu: Draft law on state budget to be approved with same deficit variant, 7.16 pct

The draft state budget law will be approved with a deficit target of 7.16 percent and with the same parameters of expenditures and revenues, Prime Minister Florin Citu declared on Thursday. "The budget deficit remains as we have established, there are changes maybe inside, different allocations, more commitment appropriations. We are not talking about more budget appropriations. (...) But the budget deficit remains at 7.16 percent, with the same parameters expenditures and revenues. You have seen very well today the opinion of the Fiscal Council, which says that it is a credible budget and believes that this budget deficit can be reached this year," the prime minister told a press conference at the Victoria Palace of Government. Moreover, when asked about the negative opinion on this bill given by the Economic and Social Council, the prime minister replied: "Yes. Interesting, isn't it?". "The budgets that destroyed Romania between 2017 and 2019 received positive opinions, the budgets that increased unsustainable budget expenditures, especially personnel ones, received positive opinions, the budgets that restricted the economic space in Romania and introduced all kinds of interventionist laws received a positive opinion, and this budget, which receives, for the first time, a positive opinion from the Fiscal Council, from professionals, those who are professionals say that it is a credible budget, receives a negative opinion. But in the end, you know how it is, politics is still a problem. Political decisions are still a problem in Romania, that's why I said that we have to make the reform from the ground up and I assume this," Florin Citu pointed out. The head of the Executive stressed that is no need to introduce new taxes in the next period and argued that additional revenue to the budget could come from "economic performance above expectations". The Prime Minister emphasized that the resources allocated in the 2021 state budget for investments are "at a historical level".AGERPRES(RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)