Eurostat: Romania has highest budget deficit to GDP in EU

Romania had the highest budget deficit to GDP ratio in the European Union (EU) in the first quarter of this year, namely 4.5% of GDP, while the average in the EU was 0.6% of GDP, according to data released on Friday by the European statistical office Eurostat.

Romania’s budget deficit to GDP increased by 1.7 percentage points in the first quarter compared to the last quarter of 2018, which is also the highest increase in EU, according to the same source.

Romania’s Finance Ministry reacted to the Eurostat data and said that the budget deficit to GDP in the first quarter was 0.5% and that the Eurostat and the Romanian authorities use different methods to calculate the deficit, Agerpres reported. The 4.5% deficit to GDP ratio presented by Eurostat was calculated based on Romania’s GDP in the first quarter of this year, while the Finance Ministry uses the GDP estimated for the whole year to calculate the budget deficit. Romania’s state budget for 2019 provides a deficit of under 3% of the GDP.

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