Romania’s First Budget Revision This Year To Lower Funds For Environment, Tourism, Education

The sources said talks on budget cuts were extremely harsh.

Finance minister Gheorghe Pogea required ministers to reduce staff expenses by 5% from the sum initially approved for this year, citing the poor level of tax collections in the first months of the year.

According to the website of the Finance Ministry, Romania’s general consolidated budget posted a deficit of 3.3 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2329), or 0.63% of gross domestic product, in the first two months of the year. Budget revenues in January and February stood at RON25.98 billion, down 6.8%, while expenses stood at RON29.32 billion, up 10.1%.

The government will revise the 2009 state budget in April or May and set a deficit target of 4.6% of GDP from the initially targeted 2% of GDP..

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc said Wednesday the government will cut budget expenses by RON4.53 billion after signing the loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund, and will also hike the estimated revenues for this year by RON1.37 billion.