PM Citu: First task of the FinMin is keeping gov't deficit below 7.16% throughout the year

Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Thursday that the first task he set for the new Minister of Finance, Dan Vilceanu, is keeping the government deficit below 7.16% until the end of the year, adding that he will not accept tax increases during his tenure. "I've completed the handover of the ministerial portfolio after 45 days of being the interim finance minister. As I said when I took over, I stayed here for almost 45 days. Some of the things that were blocked in the first part of the year have been unblocked: e-invoicing starts on September 1, the National Development Bank is being approved, a project that had been delayed far too long and that we needed very much. There is one thing I have missed that the incoming minister will have to take over: a working group that will deal with the solution for the government -run financial companies, what to do with these state-run companies moving forward, because the National Development Bank will take over many of the powers of such companies," Citu said at the Ministry of Finance, where he handed over the finance portfolio to the new minister, Dan Vilceanu. The prime minister said another topic of discussion was fiscal consolidation. "The thing I care about a lot - not to exceed the government deficit and to maintain our tax and budget strategy as approved at the beginning of the year, with a government deficit that will go below 3% in 2024. It is something that I have conveyed to the minister and to which I am very much attached. (...) The first task is to keep the deficit below 7.16% throughout the year and to keep within the parameters of the tax and budget strategy. That is the most important thing. And, at the same time, it is very clear that I will not accept tax increases during this tenure," Citu also said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Cristina Zaharia)