The government to adopt Business Standard's solution for unpaid 10-day holiday

Minister of Finance Gheorghe Pogea yesterday announced a forced, unpaid 10-day holiday for civil servants.

Thus, the government is to adopt the solution launched for debate by Business Standard one week ago, for the immediate reduction in public expenditure - with the unpaid holiday confirming the calculations regarding the forecast savings of RON 1.5 billion, or €357 million.

This is likely the recommendation that enjoyed the fastest acceptance by the government from among those coming from a different environment than the political one.

"We are planning to introduce a 10-day holiday for employees in the public sector, an unpaid holiday. This measure will bring savings to the budget worth RON 1.5 billion, which means 0.3 percent of gross domestic product," Pogea said yesterday, a few hours after Minister of Economy Adriean Videanu made the same announcement on Realitatea TV.

Prime Minister Emil Boc did not rule out the possibility of the unpaid vacation, and said that this option is currently being analyzed. However, none of the members of government provided any details about how this measure will be applied.

The unpaid holiday seems the fastest way to save a significant amount for the state budget, RON 1.5 bln, the equivalent of the deficit announced for the pension budget for the first six months of this year.

At the conclusion of the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Minister Pogea yesterday analyzed the Romanian economy at the end of the first half of 2009, and immediate solutions for meeting the commitments made to the IMF, so that Romania can receive the following two tranches of the €12.95 bln loan in September and December, respectively.

standard.money.ro