Ilie Bolojan states that Romania will have a smaller budget deficit than the one assumed by the Government. The condition that no other fees and taxes increase

Romania will respect, after many years, its commitments, it will respect the budget deficit target, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared on Tuesday, who stated that it will be lower than 8.4%, the figure that the Government proposed.

“Looking back, in this half year, the measures we took put the public finances in order in such a way that at the end of this year we will respect, after many years, the commitments we made and we will respect the deficit target, so we will have a deficit smaller than the 8.4% we proposed”, said the Prime Minister at the end of the last meeting of the Government this year.

“We managed to keep expenses under control and it is appropriate to thank all Romanians for the sacrifices made this year. These sacrifices are not made for a Government, but for Romania to become a country again that knows how to use its money responsibly and usefully for the citizens of our country,” Ilie Bolojan said.

The Prime Minister says that the Government must be careful about spending and collect the set fees and taxes

“For next year, if we collect our fees and taxes that were established this year and we are prudent in the way we spend the money, there will be no need to increase other fees or taxes. This year, as you know, we have paid all the debts on the development programs for builders in Romania and we enter next year debt-free, ensuring both access to European funds and the payment of builders and guaranteeing investments for the following year,” emphasized Ilie Bolojan in press statements made at Victoria Palace.

The Prime Minister also declared that, six months ago, when he took over the head of the Government, our country was “in a difficult moment”.

“We were on the verge of having our European funds suspended and losing our trust in the financial markets. We needed these markets then to have access to the money needed to cover the deficit. In those conditions, we had to take several difficult measures for us, measures that were painful for the Romanians, who in the first phase had to face these reforms and bear the brunt. The increase in VAT, the elimination of some wage increases, the freezing of some incomes – were the first measures that could be taken then, because we had to prove that we were spending the public money carefully and giving signals to reduce the deficit. Through this first package, we managed to maintain our credibility in front of our creditors, in front of the markets. This means that we borrowed more cheaply and already this autumn we are paying lower interest than what we were paying at the beginning of the year,” he recalled.

Ilie Bolojan defended the 2nd package of reforms that caused discontent

The Prime Minister also spoke about the second “package of reforms” which aimed to reduce some state expenses, “which represented not only a burden for the budget, but also historical injustices that Romanian society has been complaining about for many years”.

“We addressed the issue of magistrates' pensions, where the value of pensions, but also the retirement age, were perceived by Romanians as unfair to many social categories. We are waiting for the CCR's decision in the next period to clarify these aspects. In the field of Defense, we respected all our international commitments related to the budget and, very importantly, we accessed the SAFE program, which allows us both a good endowment of our troops, but also controlled budget deficits, because this credit is staggered for many years.

“We made important changes in taxation in Romania where, as you know, we had exceptions and possibilities for optimization rather than fiscal rules. We also attacked the problem of state companies, some of which were true black holes that we had been supporting for many years with subsidies from Romanians' money. We are starting to put order in this sector as well”, said the prime minister.