Normal sessions in Romanian parliament start, budget discussion and vote coming up

The first normal parliamentary sessions of the year start today (February 4 ). After delegates in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have met separately to confirm leadership of the two chambers today, there will be a joint session to discuss the draft budget proposal tomorrow.

Delegates will vote on the budget proposal, which has already received a favorable parliamentary report with amendments. Romania's government approved the draft budget proposal for 2013 back in January. MPs received the draft budget on January 23 and the head of the Chamber of Deputies Valeriu Zgonea said at the time that they would have until February 5 to suggest any amendments. The budget projection is based on a 2013 growth target of 1.6 percent and GDP of RON 623.3 billion (or just over EUR 142 billion at the current exchange rate), according to the Ministry of Finance. Projected figures for revenues and expenditure suggest that the budget deficit will be around 2.1 percent of GDP, some EUR 3 billion, this year. editor@romania-insider.com