BUCHAREST (Romania), September 16 (SeeNews) – Romania’s consolidated budget deficit through August widened to a preliminary 4.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) projected for the current year, local news agency Mediafax reported on Wednesday.
The country had a consolidated budget gap equivalent to 3.3% of GDP through July. Last year the Finance Ministry reported a shortfall of 1.08% of GDP for the first eight months of 2008.
“Preliminary data showed that the budget deficit was 4.4% of GDP in the first eight months of the year. Final data will be released on September 25,” Mediafax quoted Finance Ministry state secretary Gheorghe Gherghina as saying.
Romania ended last year with a consolidated budget deficit of 24.65 billion lei, equivalent to 4.8% of the estimated GDP, calculated under the Romanian accounting standards, and to 5.4% of GDP, under European accounting standards.
Jeffrey Franks, who headed an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission that visited Romania in August, said the lender sees Romania’s 2009 budget deficit expanding to 7.3% of GDP.
Under Romania’s 2009 budget bill, the country’s budget deficit is projected at 4.6% of GDP. Romania in April revised its budget bill to match the projections made in a 20 billion euro ($29.4 billion) agreement with the IMF, the EU and the World Bank signed in late March.
Romania, which joined the European Union in January 2007, must meet the Maastricht criteria on inflation, public debt, budget deficit, currency stability and interest rates to qualify for the adoption of the euro. The Maastricht budget gap threshold stands at 3.0% of GDP.
($ = 0.6809 euro)