Romanian 7-Mos Budget Def At 0.64% Of GDP

Romania's budget deficit was 0.64% of gross domestic product in the first seven months of 2008, minister of economy and finance Varujan Vosganian said Thursday.

Romania's general consolidated budget saw its deficit expanding to 1.18%, or 5.19 billion lei (EUR1=RON3.5324) of gross domestic product after the first half the year, compared with a deficit of 0.4% in January-May period.

The deficit was the result of revenues worth RON90.64 billion, or 35.35% of GDP in the first seven months of 2008, compared with RON66.97 billion during the same period a year before.

Of total revenues, the state budget revenues accounted for RON57.39 billion in the first seven months of 2008, up 37.86% from the same period a year ago.

Mid-July, the government has revised up this year's budget by RON842 million, due to a higher than expected gross domestic product at the end of the year, but kept unchanged the 2.3% budget deficit limit.

In March this year, the government lowered the budget deficit limit to 2.3% of gross domestic product, from 2.7%, to keep it in line with European Union requirements.

Mediafax