Ionut Dumitru (Raiffeisen Bank): Romania's budget deficit could be over 9.5% this year

Raiffeisen Bank estimates that Romania will end this year with a budget deficit of 9.5% and there is the risk that the value of the indicator could be higher, as a result of the pandemic impact in economy, said Ionut Dumitru, the chief economist of the bank and former chairman of the Fiscal Council on Thursday.

He participated in the conference “Economic evolution in key sectors in 2020”, organized by the Competition Council and PRIA Events.

According to him, the support offered by the Romanian state for economy was lower than in other states, but Romania has already had a very high deficit since last year and because of that it had a smaller maneuver space.

“The burden of public expenses is high enough, we have big expenses with salaries and social assistance. Salaries are close to 12% of GDP, compared to the European average of 10%, when fiscal incomes in Romania are 27% of GDP, versus the European average of 40% of GDP. On the overall, the social invoice is very high, it consumes about all income taxes,” the banker continued.

Developed by Codecraftsman