The Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu, believes that what the current governing coalition has done is the right direction and explained that if the „little train” ordinance had not been adopted, the deficit would have reached 10%.
Additionally, he added that through the budget project, „the ship” was turned from a larger deficit to a smaller one.
"What the current coalition has done is the right direction. It first stopped the deterioration, if it had not adopted that ordinance, the deficit would have reached 10%, so easily with all those increases. And then, with the budget project, it turned, let's say, the ship from a larger deficit to a smaller deficit," Mugur Isărescu declared on Monday at a press conference.
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He specified that the Government claims it will reach a 7% deficit by the end of the year, while the Fiscal Council forecasts a 7.7% deficit.
"The Government believes it will reach 7%, you probably read it, the Fiscal Council, their forecast is 7.7%, but the Fiscal Council made two comments. One, that it did not take into account a better tax collection. And Mr. Academician Dăianu expressed quite clearly, I have not seen those measures, but it can be corrected and this could lead the fiscal deficit towards seven. And second, a prioritization of investments. According to the Fiscal Council, there are many investments, some you don't even have time to make, and prioritizing them could lead the deficit to 7%," stated the BNR governor.
He was also asked about the impact of missing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, considering that Romania has achieved 14% of milestones and targets.
"Don't scare me anymore. It would be bad, of course. What answer do you want me to give? It would be bad and very bad. How could we miss something like this? To have free money and for us to miss it. But, in the end, it takes effort and mobilization. And political mobilization, mainly, as it does not depend on anything else," transmitted the BNR governor.