Romania posts below-target budget deficit in 2014

Newsroom 28/01/2015 | 15:00

After cutting funds for public investments in 2014, Romania reported a 1.85 percent budget deficit (percentage of GDP), below the 1.97 percent target. This is “less good news” as it means that the government didn’t manage to spend all the money it was allocated, said PM Victor Ponta during a government meeting on Wednesday, according to Mediafax.

“We’ve received the good news that revenues are above target this January and the National Fiscal Administration Agency (ANAF) and the Ministry of Finance have confirmed this. The less good news is that we didn’t post a 1.97 percent budget deficit but a 1.85 percent budget deficit. This makes us the most disciplined after Germany, but still, that money should have been spent,” said Ponta according to Mediafax.

Romania had initially negotiated with the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission a 2.2 percent budget deficit target for 2014 . Out of this, 0.2 percent was allocated to co-finance EU-funded projects. However, after revising the budget three times last year and after cutting the funds for co-financing, the target was lowered to 2 percent.