The Ciolos Government continued the tradition of substantial spending in the last month of the year. The consolidated budget spent RON14 billion to RON15 billion (2% to 2.1% of GDP) more than the current spending and switched to deficit, sources say.
The Finance Ministry did not comment on the information by press time. December and 2015 data are to be published after January 2015.
“In a way it can be explained as follows: spending is made in advance and reimbursement at the end of the year. Those under a contract with the government do the work and when there is money available they get it,” says economist Dragos Cabat.
“Payments are made at the end of the year so the budget will not go over the set deficit. The rest is deferred until the next year. Simple and cynical.”
The 2015 budget was built around a deficit of 1.8% of GDP (RON13 billion) but eleven months into the year it actually recorded a surplus of 0.76% of GDP. To meet the deficit target the government spent an additional RON14 billion to RON15 billion in December or RON2 billion more than the deficit set for the entire year (RON13 billion).
The Finance Ministry is to publish budget data some time after January 25, which will show where money went in December. However, as shown by previous monthly data, the surplus in 2015 was because of the lack of investments, rather than an improved revenue collection rate. (EUR1=RON4.5324)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)