FinMin Citu: No funds cut at budget revision

The latest national budget revision did not cut any funds, but some ministries that said they could help the budget cut on their non-essential expenses, and the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Education received additional appropriations, Finance Minister Florin Citu said on Friday.

"There is not cut. In this budget revision there was not cut anywhere. Those ministries who considered that they can help the budget with savings during this period took the decision and reported to the Ministry of Finance having cut on some non-essential expenses. The amounts are very small, that's why they weren't included either. There are several hundred thousand from a ministry, four million to the presidential administration, for example. But otherwise the amounts are very small. What else had this rectification and was different from any previous ones is that the appropriations for the Ministry of Transport have been increased, which in most of the preceding years were always cut at the revision. The Ministry of Education also got additional funds. So ministries that in the past would be bereaved of funds with each previous revision have received additional funds this time, besides the Ministry of Health and the Ministry Labour," Citu told a news conference.

The government on Wednesday passed an emergency ordinance on the revision of the 2020 national budget and the state insurance budget taking into account the new economic data following the crisis caused by the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, according to head of the Prime Minister's Chancellery Ionel Danca.

Also on Wednesday, Citu announced that the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection will receive 8.1 billion lei at the revision and the Ministry of Health about 3.8 billion lei.

He also said the government deficit this year rises to 6.7% of GDP at the first budget revision in 2020 as the measures adopted to stimulate the economy take up 3% of GDP. According to him, the cash deficit increases by 31.9 billion lei.

According to Citu, National Board on Economic Strategy and Forecast indicates a contraction of the Romanian economy of 1.9% this year and a nominal GDP decreasing to 1,082 billion lei.