2012 budget deficit much below 3 percent
President Traian Băsescu declared that during the discussions at Cotroceni it was decided that reassessing the deficit target was necessary, claiming that it “would be recommended” for the deficit to fall ”much bellow” 3 %.
Articol de Ioana Dogaru, 25 Octombrie 2011, 16:46
According to President Traian Băsescu, the budget for 2012 must be very well thought out, not necessarily because there is no money left for financing the deficit, but because this financing is “extremely expensive”.
Traian Băsescu also said that although the budget deficit was smaller, it should not affect the investment level, because of the regional economic situation, influenced by the crisis in Greece.
President Traian Băsescu added that pensions would not be cut or taxed again, and that at the meeting at the Cotroceni Palace it was decided that reducing the salaries in 2012 was not going to be an option.
“There will be no more cuts or taxes on pensions”, Traian Băsescu said.
Also, President Traian Băsescu declared on Monday that the official level of EU funds absorption was of 14.8 percent from the allocated budget, mentioning that an important problem was that of the delays in the billing process.
Traian Băsescu specified that the official level of absorption for Romania was of 14.8 percent, since more money from the budget had been spent, and because of the malfunctioning billing system the money could not be recovered.
According to the president, a budget that does not clearly show where all the money from the investments goes will be sent back to the Parliament.
This was the conclusion of the chief of state after the discussions held at the Cotroceni Palace with the Prime Minister, Emil Boc, the NBR governor and other ministers.
On Monday, at Cotroceni, the president said that he would have a discussion with Jose Manuel Barroso about the absorption of the European funds on Tuesday.
He said that he would return to Bucharest, according to the schedule, and that he would be back in Brussels at a summit of the European Council before the meeting of the Eurogroup on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the chief of state announced after the reunion of the European Council that he would have a meeting with the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, in order to discuss particularly about the use of the European funds.
Translated by: Violeta Mavrodin
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University
