“I think the only aspect we need to negotiate with the European Commission is how fast we need to go back to below 3%. Certainly, the EC would require Romania to correct its budget gap this year but that is unacceptable, because hat would mean a fiscal policy that would negatively impact the country’s economy and we won’t do that,” said Citu.
The fiance minister added the excessive deficit procedure was considered when drafting this year’s state budget.
“Our fiscal strategy already shows the budget gap will drop below 3% of GDP in 2022. The excessive deficit procedure has been taken into account. It was unavoidable considering the budget execution we found.
Citu said the budget execution for the first two months of 2020 was looking good and chances are Romania could take its deficit below this year’s 3.6% target.