Romania will end this year with a smaller deficit than the European Union countries and will avoid the technical recession, finance minister Florin Citu said on Wednesday evening.

In this context, Citu added that he no longer "sees" the need to seek financing on the international markets because the deficit has been financed.

"The European Union has an average deficit of 14% now. Hungary, at the middle of the year, has a deficit of 6%, we have 4.44% (of GDP – e.n.). We started this period with a huge handicap because we had a deficit inherited from last year - 4.6%. Most EU countries have had budget surpluses in recent years. All EU countries have reduced their budget deficits in the last 3 years on economic growth,” the finance minister said in an interview at Digi24 news channel, Agerpres reported.

He also believes that Romania will be “the country that will avoid the technical recession."

Citu added that in terms of consumption, things look very good given the economic context, which means that purchasing power has maintained. He also mentioned the decrease in the inflation rate and interest rates.

"Last year, inflation was 4.1% in July, today it is 2.5%. Last year it was the highest inflation rate in Europe today it is no longer the highest. We have reduced the inflation rate, that means more purchasing power," the minister was quoted as saying.

On the other hand, the minister pointed out that problems will arise if the crisis in the EU economies continues.

"We manage to maintain the internal market by injecting liquidity into the economy, through measures such as deferrals, bonuses, payment of sick leave. The problem will arise if the crisis continues as strongly in the EU economies. Companies are beginning to suffer due to weaker exports. We have to find solutions there too. We see that Germany and France are also starting to recover. All economies are learning to live with this pandemic today," the finance minister concluded.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gov.ro)