Romania’s consolidated general budget, which includes both the state budget, as well as the pension and unemployment budgets, posted a deficit of RON 2.17 billion (EUR 475.5 million) in the first five months of this year, namely 0.27% of the GDP.

The budget deficit increased almost three times compared to the same period last year.

The main cause of the deficit was the big increase in the budgetary expenditure in May. This has unbalanced the budget and produced a record monthly deficit of RON 3.5 billion (EUR 767 million).

The consolidated budget still recorded a surplus after the first four months of the year. This totaled RON 1.35 billion (EUR 295.8 million), or 0.17% of the GDP.

The revenues of the general consolidated budget amounted to RON 98.4 billion (EUR 21.5 billion) in the first five months of this year, namely 12.1% of the GDP. They increased by 7.9% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the budgetary expenditure reached RON 100.6 billion (EUR 22 billion), up 9.4% year-on-year compared to the same period last year.

In the first five months of 2016, the budget recorded a deficit of 0.1% of the GDP.

editor@romania-insider.com