September 19 (SeeNews) - Romania's prime minister Dacian Ciolos said on Monday that Romania's economic growth forecast of 4.8% is sustainable and the government plans no tax hikes for the rest of its term.
"The economic growth this year is sustainable because it is based both on consumption and investments. Unlike previous years, growth in 2016 is the result of the contribution of all sectors of the economy," Ciolos said during a presentation on the state of the country's economy held in parliament at the request of the governing Socialist party, PSD and broadcast by local TV station Digi 24.
For this economic growth to remain sustainable, Romania needs more structural reforms and investments, Ciolos added.
Also, the prime minister confirmed that the government has no plans to hike taxes until the end of its mandate. Earlier this month, the finance ministry dismissed local media reports of plans to raise taxes this year.
Romania will hold parliamentary elections in December 2016.
Ciolos confirmed data issued earlier by Romanian finance ministry analysts, which increased their forecast for the country's 2016 economic growth to 4.8% from a previous 4.2% based on expectations of a more robust performance than originally projected. The National Prognosis Commission (CNP), an analyst unit within the ministry, said in a statement that Romania's Gross Domestic Product would total 758.5 billion lei ($191 billion/170 billion euro) in 2016. This compares with a 3.8% growth to 712.8 billion lei in 2015.
Ciolos also insisted that Romania needs to create more jobs in order to make the most of the expected increased economic growth.
The government'ss latest projection points to a budget deficit equivalent to 2.8% of GDP for 2016, below the 3% EU ceiling.
The country's consolidated budget for 2015 showed a deficit of 1.47% of GDP, below the 1.85% limit set in the government's fiscal strategy for that year.
(1 euro=4.4464 lei)