Budget revision fails to meet expectations of Romania's local administrations

The Board of Directors of the Romanian Association of Cities expressed on August 8 their indignation about the budget revision published by the Government for public consultation the day before.

Under these circumstances, the prime minister must assume the foreseeable bankruptcy to which the local administrations are headed, the association said, according to Ziarul Financiar.

“In the light of this crisis situation faced by most cities, generated by the decrease in revenues and, especially, by the significant increases of their expenses, a situation that cannot be fixed by the measures proposed by the draft ordinance regarding the rectification of the state budget for 2019, in a desperate voice, the city mayors ask the prime minister of Romania to publicly assume the foreseeable bankruptcy to which the administrative-territorial units with city status are heading or to vigorously intervene to revise the draft ordinance presented by the Finance Ministry”, reads a press release of the Association of Cities in Romania.

Notably, the opposition parties criticized the Government for directing too many funds to local administration, accusing the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) of pursuing its electoral interests.

The Fiscal Council also criticized the Government for drafting an unrealistic budget revision that, according to its estimate, will result in a full-year deficit of 3.4%-3.7% of GDP compared to the 2.76%-of-GDP target.

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