The budget was approved with a delay of approximately three months, with Romanian authorities operating on default budgets for the first two months of 2019.
“PSD failed its last test of responsibility. The state budget bill which I sent back to the Parliament to correct grave content errors was returned unchanged. One day, that was all that PSD allotted in the Parliament to re-examine a bill that is so important for the country,” said Iohannis, who deemed the act a “budget of national shame” again.
The president had challenged the bill’s constitutionality but the Constitutional Court dismissed the challenge. He then sent the bill back to Parliament for reexamination.
The Parliament first adopted the budget bill mid-February. The budget plan is built on a deficit target of 2.76% of GDP and an economic growth projection of 5.5%.
Romania’s economic growth slowed to 4.1% in 2018 after 7% growth in 2017 and analysts expect it to slow even further in 2019.