PM Bolojan: By the end of the year, there will be a deficit of almost EUR 30billion

The Ministry of Finance estimates that by the end of this year Romania will have a deficit of almost EUR 30 billion, or RON 150 billion, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Friday.He made the clarification on Radio Romania News, when asked about the way Romania's budget implementation looks like in 2025 after the first nine months of the year, given that some data are already circulating, according to which the deficit would have reached RON103 billion, EUR 20 billion, higher than in the previous year, despite an increase in the Value-Added Tax (VAT)."The data you specified are the data for the first nine months of the year. The estimate that the Ministry of Finance has made is that by the end of this year we will have a deficit of almost EUR 30 billion, or RON 150 billion, which is quite a large amount, it is almost 25% of what Romania collects in a year. (...) Romania spends 25% more money every year than it collects. In an even more plastic translation, about the total salary fund in the public sector in Romania amounts to about RON 150 billion in a year, so if Romania works under normal conditions, it makes the same investments that it has made so far, it behaves the same, if it does not take the loan it takes every year, practically cannot pay any salary in the public sector," said Bolojan.The budget deficit is very high, he added, and the interest rates on the money Romania borrows year after year increase."Think that this year it amounts to about EUR 11 billion, or about RON 55 billion, and next year, because this year too, loans were taken, (...) unfortunately, the interest that Romania will pay will be close to 3% of the Gross Domestic Product. So, there are very high interest rates and if we do not correct our expenses, in the sense of subtracting them, if we do not collect our income, the ones we have established, and we have to collect them, and if we do not calculate our investments in such a way that there is a calculation as correct as possible, that is, we work as much as we can afford and we prioritize and reschedule the others, in the coming years, the fiscal space that each government will have, no matter who it will be, will be smaller and smaller and, basically, we will be a kind of payment agency that will pay interest, but it will no longer be a space for development, to create conditions, so that the young people who make a living in Romania have a better life," said Bolojan.He added that it is an important stake to narrow the deficits and to direct the money that is saved, not to pay interest, but to lead it to development, for better healthcare and education services.  (Photo:https://gov.ro/)