Klaus Iohannis approves 2017 budget, asks government to be responsible

President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday afternoon that he approved the public budget for 2017 and the social insurance budget, but warned that the revenues projected by the government are “overestimated”, while the planned expenses are also high.

Iohannis said that the “overoptimistic approach can be see if the revenues from last year are compared to the one from this year, where there is a 14 percent gain mentioned, without an explanation for this phenomenal growth.” He pointed to the RON 50 billion in credit commitments included in this year’s budget, claiming that this amount has not been seen before.

Talking about the center-left government led by Sorin Grindeanu, the president said that he has a simple message: “responsibility, responsibility, responsibility.”

This year’s budget is based on an economic growth estimate of 5.2 percent and a deficit below 3 percent. The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, forecasted an economic growth of 4.4 percent, warning that Romania might miss the deficit target.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the local economy to grow by 3.8 percent of GDP this year.

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Last year, the Romanian economy grew by 4.8 percent of GDP, according to a flash estimate by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

Ovidiu Posirca