We have technical meetings with the European Commission to smooth this part of the trajectory that we have for reducing the budget deficit, and we can have a more settled discussion after the information is closed and after we have the latest data from the budget execution account for September,” said Finance Minister Marcel Bolos on Wednesday after the Government meeting.
“The basis in the structural fiscal plan is the adjustment path of the budget deficit, the macroeconomic scenario. In this period of time we have technical meetings with the European Commission to smooth this part of the trajectory that we have for reducing the budget deficit. But if you are referring to the fiscal measures, we are not yet discussing these types of measures and we have no new taxes,” said Bolos.
Asked what deficit Romania could have after the adoption of the amnesty ordinance, the finance minister said that “we will see how the figures for September evolve.”
Regarding the phased payments for the salaries of judges and prosecutors, retroactively increased starting from 2018, Bolos showed that this is a rather big effort that the ministry has to make until 2029.
The Government adopted on Wednesday, at the proposal of the Finance Ministry, the Emergency Ordinance regulating a series of fiscal-budget measures in the area of managing budget arrears and budget deficit. These measures are aimed at supporting taxpayers, given the fact that the business environment is faced with a temporary lack of liquidity, supporting voluntary compliance with payment, in the sense that, the measures adopted will boost the payment of tax/budget obligations, the state ensuring, on the one hand, that the volume of arrears decreases, and on the other hand, that budget revenues increase so that it can support the expenditure incurred for economic support.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on August 22, during his working visit to Brussels.
The head of the executive said that, based on the discussions held, Romania is proposing to the European forum a seven-year agreement on reducing the budget deficit
In mid-August, the Fiscal Council annual report showed that the deficit will “probably” exceed 7% of the GDP, with a risk of heading towards 8% of the GDP, based on the budget execution of the first six months of 2024 and other data.