Romania's finance minister on fiscal consolidation: the clock is ticking

If Romania does not implement tough fiscal reforms, it risks ending up in a crisis similar to the one in 2010 and calling for help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), finance minister Marcel Boloș said in an interview on September 13.

He complained about the lack of political commitment among the government.

"If we don't take these measures, we will end up like in 2010," warned Boloș, pointing to the financial crisis when Romania had to take tough austerity measures to restore market confidence.

"I wanted to resign because I cannot move forward with any of the measures discussed. With great difficulty, the Ministry of Finance keeps the deficit under control. I want to say emphatically that the simulations carried out by the EC for us do not look good at all. The budget deficit will reach alarming levels, and they [EC representatives] told us what is going to happen: the European funds will be suspended, all of them, the cohesion funds and the Resilience Facility funds. It's not something new. They will suspend the funds until we get back to normal. The clock is ticking," minister Boloș told Digi24.

He also warned that Romania's budget deficit will reach 6.87% of GDP unless the fiscal measures are taken.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)