Romania’s budget deficit slightly down to 2.4% of GDP ten months into 2011

Romania’s general consolidated budget registered a deficit of EUR 3.15 billion (RON 13.3 billion) in the first ten months of 2011, according to the Romanian Ministry of Finance. The country’s deficit reached 2.4 percent of GDP at the end of October this year, compared to a set annual deficit of 4.4 percent of GDP. The nine-month budget deficit was of 2.5 percent of the GDP. The consolidated budget revenues amounted to around EUR 35.2 billion (RON 148.7 billion) in the first ten months of 2011, up 8.6 percent year-on-year. The biggest increase was recorded in the value added tax (VAT), where revenues were higher by 21.3 percent year-on-year. Expenses went up by 0.9 percent in nominal terms over the same period last year, up to EUR 38.3 billion (RON 161.9 billion), mainly due to growing costs for European funded projects. However, in real terms, the expenses fell by 1.7 percentage points, as a percentage of GDP. The costs on goods and services rose by 4.4 percent in the first ten months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, while the payments for European funded projects reported a year-on-year increase of 67 percent. The investment costs amounted to EUR 6.2 billion (RON 26.3 billion) between January and October 2011, according to the Romanian Ministry of Finance. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)