Romania's '08 Budget Deficit Almost 5% Of GDP, Govt Bills Unpaid

The preliminary data for 2008 show a budget deficit of almost 5% of the gross domestic product, an economic growth of 8.3% and revenue worth EUR43 billion, EUR7 billion lower compared with the budget forecast, so that many of government's bills cannot be paid, Prime Minister Emil Boc stated Tuesday.

The PM said the government's contract obligations for transport, education, infrastructure, worth hundreds of millions of euros, cannot be paid due to the defective manner in which last year's budget was calculated and forecasted.
 
Boc said government will announce the decisions on pensions and salaries at the time of presenting the 2009 budget draft, adding that the legal and political commitments will be implemented "in accordance with the existing resources".
 
Former Finance Minister Varujan Vosganian said in December that the country's budget deficit widened to 2.9% of the GDP after the first 11 months, due to a slump in budget revenue in the last two months, following the international crisis. He said the budget revenue in October and November was EUR1.3 billion below the projected level.

Mediafax