Romania's budget deficit goes up to 0.49% of the GDP

Romania’s budget deficit rose to RON 3.7 billion (EUR 824 million), namely 0.49% of the GDP, in the first nine months of this year. By comparison, Romania saw a budget surplus of RON 6.1 billion (EUR 1.3 billion) during the same period last year. The total revenues of the consolidated budget amounted to RON 165.8 billion (EUR 36.9 billion), namely 21.9% of the GDP. They went down by 2% in nominal terms compared to the first nine months of 2015. The revenues collected by the tax agency ANAF amounted to RON 150 billion (EUR 33.4 billion), up 1.8% compared to the same period last year. The revenues from the tax on profit rose by 12.3% year-on-year whereas those from social insurance contributions went up by 6.9%. Revenues from excise duties increased by 6.4% year-on-year and those from the income tax grew by 3.8%. The VAT revenues, however, dropped by 8.6% compared to the same period last year. The main reason was the reduction in the general VAT rate from 24% to 20% starting January. editor@romania-insider.com