Romania's Govt. to prepare "first draft" of 2025 budget by January 27

Romania's finance minister, Tanczos Barna, said that a first draft of the budget planning for 2025 would be ready by January 27, and he also assured that it is possible to avoid hiking the VAT rate or the income tax rate, Hotnews.ro reported.

Romania's public deficit reportedly reached 8.7% of GDP in 2024 and must be kept under 7% of GDP this year, according to the seven-year fiscal consolidation plan endorsed by the European Commission. Minister Tanczos Barna previously said that the target is extremely difficult to achieve.

A first fiscal corrective package was endorsed by the government before the end of 2024, under which pensions and wages in the public sector were frozen, but insufficient measures were taken on the revenues side. Specifically, only a quart of the planned rise in revenues was achieved by the first fossil corrective package.

The minister stated that the first version of the budget will be available by January 27, which he will present to the ruling coalition and the government. Afterward, the parliamentary endorsement procedure will begin.

"What I can tell you at this moment, at the beginning of January, is that the economic growth forecast of 2.5%, Schengen accession, which brings additional opportunities to Romania, the forecasted inflation of 5%, the revenues generated by the tax collection agency ANAF and the supplementary revenues that digitalization and the implementation of measures to reduce tax evasion can bring, will ensure sufficient resources to build the budget on the current VAT rate," said Tanczos Barna.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)