Late on Thursday night, the government approved the Law on the State Budget, which will be considered by the Parliament in an emergency manner next week.” According to PNL president Nicolae Chuke, a meeting of the reunited permanent bureaus will take place on Friday to determine the exact calendar of the budget debate. It will be recalled that the document was harshly criticized by the community of economists led by the Fiscal Council, which issued a stern warning about the project.

In the explanatory note to the document, the Government blames the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict, the energy crisis and severe inflation, which would lead to a deepening of the budget deficit, although in the same document it admits that the revenues of the consolidated general budget failed to reach the programmed level. This is connected both with the non-realization of revenues received from the domestic economy, but especially against the background of the non-realization of revenues planned to be attracted from irrevocable external funds.

“In the third quarter of 2023, receipts from non-refundable financial assistance allocated by the PNRR are significantly lower than the programmed level,” the quoted document says.

In order to keep the budget deficit under control, it is necessary to increase revenues, and in the expenditure part – to avoid spending on goods and services that are not absolutely necessary, the Government believes.

The state budget for 2024 is unrealistic with overstated revenues and understated expenditures, similar to the 2023 budget, when it was clear from the first two months that the reality on the ground was far from the budget forecast, said three economists who participated in Thursday’s budget debate. organized by ZF.

“The way out is the restoration of the budget, that is, I really don’t see any other way out. Recovery on some realistic basis, according to the current macro situation and the macro prospects of the next year. I don’t see any other solution because the gap between the forecasts and what the economy can lead to is quite large,” said Laurian Lungu, a PhD in economics at Cardiff Business School, during the quoted debate.

The consolidation of the budget in 2025-2027, as stipulated by the documents received on December 9, is designed to be carried out exclusively on the expenditure side, the share of budget revenues in GDP shows a downward trend in the analyzed period. This strategy raises questions about achieving the goals of budget consolidation, the Fiscal Council draws attention.

The CF emphasized in its findings and analysis that macroeconomic adjustment and fiscal consolidation require a significant increase in fiscal revenues, which are at a very low level in relation to Romania’s needs and compared to EU benchmarks,” the Fiscal Council said in a statement.