Budget deficit to 6.66 pc of GDP in 2010

The state budget deficit for 2010 is scheduled to stand at RON 35.04 bln, namely 6.66 per cent of GDP, down by RON 6.2 bln (1.23 per cent of GDP) compared to the deficit approved for this year, Mediafax informs. 'The state budget will have revenues of RON 66.65 bln and expenditures of RON 101.67 bln, with a budget deficit of RON 35.02 bln,' the budget draft for 2010 reads. Thus, the state budget revenues are scheduled to grow by RON 9.95 bln next year (1.9 per cent of GDP), while the state budget expenditures will drop by RON 3.73 bln (0.71 per cent of GDP).

Gheorghe Gherghina, secretary of state within the Public Finances Ministry (MFP), had stated at the end of October that the consolidated budget for 2010 will be built on total revenues of RON 166.709 bln (31.75 per cent of GDP) and expenditures of RON 197.904 bln (37.68 per cent of GDP), with the budget deficit standing at 5.9 per cent of GDP. The 2010 GDP is estimated at RON 525.1 bln, up by 0.5 per cent in real terms. For 2010 the MFP takes into consideration an average exchange rate of RON 4.2/EUR and an inflation rate of 3.7 per cent. Thus, for next year the Ministry of Finances is expecting a slight growth in revenues as a share of GDP and a 1.2 per cent drop in the budget expenditures.

For this year the general consolidated budget's revenues are estimated at RON 157.2 bln (31.6 per cent of GDP) and the expenditures at RON 193.7 bln (38.9 per cent of GDP), with the GDP standing at RON 497.3 bln. For the state budget the MFP stakes on revenues of RON 56.7 bln and forecasts expenditures of RON 97.94 bln.

Moreover, according to the 2010 budget draft the public institution's employees that have resorted to court action in order to obtain their salary rights and that have won their cases will receive their money but only starting with Q2 of 2010. The funds will be included in the Ministry of Finance's budget but will be issued only starting on July 1, 2010. In 2010 the Government has to pay 34 per cent of the sums.

Government bans gift, lunch and holiday coupons

According to the draft budget for next year, the Government will prohibit the central and local public institutions from offering their employees lunch, gift and holiday coupons. 'The central and local public institutions, irrespective of their financing, subordination system and activities that are financed wholly from their own revenues, will not offer lunch coupons to their employees. The 2010 budgets of central and local institutions do not contain the sums for offering gift and holiday coupons to their employees,' the document reads.

For 2009 the Government decided through an emergency ordinance that the public institutions won't offer lunch coupons, with the institutions wholly financed from their own revenues being excepted from that. Also in 2009 the Government planned to forbid the authorities and public institutions from offering their employees gift and holiday coupons until the end of this year but gave up on the idea following negotiations with the trade unions. Instead the Government decided that such coupons could be offered provided they fall within the limits of the approved expenditures.

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