Romanian President Iohannis rules out austerity plan

In the week when the Government published for open debate the changes to the Fiscal Code, expected to bring some 0.9% of GDP in supplementary revenues, President Klaus Iohannis ruled out the option of an "austerity plan" in response to the expected dire economic situation in the coming quarters. The Government's plan works quite well, he stressed.

"We do not have a plan to enter an austerity process for very simple reasons: we underwent the economic crisis of 2009-2011 when we tried to fight the crisis through austerity measures. The result was not good, and I do not intend to accept a new experiment of this type with Romania," President Klaus Iohannis said at a press conference on July 5, Ziarul Financiar reported.

The Government's plan consists of public investments and "luckily substantial European funds," he explained.

"On the other hand, the Government came up with support measures. We will continue to have massive investments in infrastructure and economy and support packages where needed," Klaus Iohannis added.

Romania's public investments (capital expenditures) in January-May shrank by 4% YoY, and no money of the EUR 3.9 bln disbursed by the European Commission as advance payments under the Resilience Facility was disbursed to the final beneficiary.

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)