The economic crisis meant higher budget expenditures for all countries, but Romania registered the smallest increase in the budget deficit compared to the initial estimates, Minister of Finance Florin Citu stated on Sunday.

"We have promised a prudent, responsible and non-inflationary long-term fiscal policy. We have succeeded so far. The economic crisis has meant higher budget expenditures for all countries. All budget deficits have exploded. However, Romania has the smallest increase in the deficit. budget compared to the initial estimate," Citu wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday.

According to him, the benefits for all Romanians of the prudent fiscal policy implemented are the lowest need for loans to cover the budget deficit (Poland, for example, must borrow an additional 9.3 per cent of GDP in 2020), more room for manoeuvre in 2021 if this economic and health crisis continues, less pressure on future interest rates and budget revenues (less pressure on the finances of future generations), less pressure on future price increases and smaller risks of eliminating the private sector through too much state intervention economy.

"The liberal economy is developing with a strong private sector in the economy. But the most important thing is to succeed, with a much smaller budgetary effort than the rest of the EU countries, to recover economically in the third quarter of the year and avoid a technical recession. This was my objective from the very beginning and I believe that we can do it," said the Minister of Finance.

The execution of the general consolidated budget in the first six months of 2020 registered a deficit of 45.17 billion lei (4.17 per cent of GDP), according to data published by the Ministry of Public Finance.

"More than half of the deficit, respectively 23.04 billion lei (2.13 per cent of GDP), is generated by the amounts left in the economic environment through the fiscal facilities and exceptional expenditures adopted to combat the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic," it is specified in the MFP report on budget execution. AGERPRES (RO-author: Nicoleta Gherasi, editor: Mihaela Dicu; EN - editor: Cristina Zaharia)