Social Democrat opposition asks PM Citu to explain public debt management

Arguing that the public debt has exceeded 50% of the Gross Domestic Product at the end of June (49.9% at the end of April according to the latest official data), the Romanian Social Democrat opposition (PSD) asks prime minister Florin Cîţu to observe the budget and fiscal responsibility law and to submit "as soon as possible" a report showing how it spent the borrowed money and how the public debt reduction will be pursued.

PSD points out that non-compliance with this legal provision is an abuse of office, which is punishable under criminal law.

"The loans contracted in June, together with the RON 2.2 bln borrowed yesterday [July 1] by the Ministry of Public Finance, raised the public debt above the level of 49.9% of GDP reported by the Government at the end of April. Under these conditions, the legal provision (under art. 13, para. 2, lit. a) of Law 69/2010 on fiscal-budgetary responsibility, obliges the Government to present 'as soon as possible' a debt reduction plan. The obligation to 'justify the increase of the debt' should have been fulfilled by the Ministry of Finance from the moment when it exceeded 45% of the GDP," the PSD press release, quoted by News.ro, shows.

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