The eastern European country ran a deficit of 16.82 billion lei (EUR3.86 billion) in 2012, versus RON30.91 billion in the previous year, data from the EU’s statistical arm Eurostat showed Monday.
The figures were provided by the Romanian authorities and have not been amended in any way by Eurostat.
Moreover, “Eurostat has no reservations on the data reported by member states,” EU’s statistics office said in a statement.
Romania’s Finance Ministry announced earlier this year that the country could be removed from the list of EU countries with excessive deficits in May or June this year.
“If the preliminary budget data is confirmed, the authorities will inform the European Commission by April 1 that the 2012 cash-flow based deficit was below the bloc’s limit of 3% of the gross domestic product,” the ministry said at the time.
It said the European Commission would analyze whether Romania can keep its budget deficit below 3% of GDP in the medium term and it could recommend that Ecofin cancel the excessive-deficit procedure.
The Commission in 2009 recommended an excessive-deficit procedure be launched against Romania, due to a budget gap of 5.4% of GDP in 2008. The eastern European country was given until December 2012 to lower its deficit.
Consequently, Romania had to implement severe measures to lower its deficit, including a 25% cut in the public wage bill and a five percentage point increase in the sales tax.