PM Victor Ponta said he would not give up to IMF delegation’s requests for a 0.9 percent of the GDP budget deficit. Ponta considers the IMF experts are regarding the government as ‘the pupil in the backside desk’ after being criticized the President Traian Basescu.
Ponta said the IMF delegation has become more rigid during negotiations after the head of state criticized the experts for being ‘too soft’ with the government, the Premier said.
The Romanian executive and the IMF, EC and WB delegations haven’t reached an agreement on next year’s budget deficit.
The Romanian officials point to the previously agreed level of 1.4 percent of the GDP, while the IMF requested a 0.9 percent level – meaning expenditures should be cut by RON 3.5 billion in 2015. The government insists that, in such circumstances, the defence budget could not be supplemented, while the programs for infrastructure would be out of possibilities for relaunch.