The business community is deeply concerned about the unsustainability of the increase in public expenditures for pensions or other categories of expenditures that do not have a source of funding provided for them, reads a release issued on Monday by the Coalition for Romania's Development (CDR), the largest confederation of business associations in Romania.

In this context, the Coalition for Romania's Development calls on the Government to act prudently in spending public finance.

"The Coalition for the Romania's Development launches a call to responsibility to the Government and Parliament of Romania in managing the growing challenges posed by the health and economic crisis that our country is going through and signals that Romania's economic health depends on prudence and efficiency in public spending and a budgetary policy that prioritizes investments with a multiplier effect in the economy," according to the CDR release.

The employers' confederation warns the Government about the option of increasing public spending, especially in the context of the forthcoming local and parliamentary elections.

"The CDR reiterates these principles in the context of the upcoming local and parliamentary elections, in order to direct the attention to the risk of deepening the budget deficit through populist measures, taken for electoral reasons. Given the global economic slowdown and the contraction of the domestic economy predictable since the first half of this year, the business milieu is deeply concerned about the lack of sustainability of the increase in expenditures for pensions or for other categories of expenses that have not provided a source of financing," reads the CDR release.

Also, the employers' confederation emphasizes the urgent need to optimize the number of employees in the public administration.

"At the same time, CDR reiterates the urgency of the reforms that will result in streamlining budget expenditures, including public administration reform, in the sense of streamlining public services, optimizing the number of employees and professionalizing officials," the Romanian Coalition for Development said in the release.

The Coalition for Romania's Development is a private initiative built as a collaboration agreement through the collective participation of its members and brings together organizations such as the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania, the French Chamber of Commerce in Romania, the Romanian Businesspeople's Association, the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Romanian Business Leaders, the Foreign Investors Council, the Concordia Employers' Confederation and the National Council of Small and Medium-Sized Private Enterprises in Romania.

The companies represented by the 25 CDR member business organizations employ over one million people and generate approximately 50% of GDP.

According to the budget revision, published on August 19 in the Official Journal, the pension point is increased by 14% from September 1, to 1,442 lei. AGERPRES (RO - author: George Coman; editor: Andreea Marinescu; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi, editor: Adina Panaitescu)