The 2016 draft budget and the state social insurances draft got the Parliament specialist committees’ green light on Sunday. The final vote is scheduled on Wednesday, December 16.
On Monday, the plenary sitting of the two chambers ended the general debates on the draft after presenting the parliamentary groups’ and the Government’s points of view.
PM Dacian Cioloș told the plenary sitting that the Gov’t decided to respect the legal framework adopted by the Parliament when it drafted the 2016 state budget, although there is a RON 20bln impact due to the fiscal relaxation and to the salary rises.
“They were taken as such from the perspective of the impact on the budget construction on 2016. The mentioned provisions are not at all to be overlooked, (…) they point to a a total budgetary impact worth 20 billion lei, considering that the revenues drop by RON 10 billion, while expenditures grow by more than RON 9 billion,” the Prime minister argued.
He added that the Government has done re-allocations for Health, Education, Transport, Defence and investment, considering five basic elements in order to implement the state budget for the next year: prioritization, transparency, efficiency, prudence and predictability.
According to him, the Government also eyes to bring the public procurement contracts to surface so there will no longer be suspicions regarding the allocation of public money. “Eradicating waste in the public sector is a key-priority of the Government and it is closely linked to the public administration’s reform,” the Premier added.
PM Cioloș also stated that prudence is another crucial factor in the management of the 2016 budget.
“With a 2.95pct deficit, we must be extremely cautious, in order not to have any slips. The Government has created a 10pct ceiling of blocking the public expenditure with goods and services, RON 4 billion, as a buffer to avoid slips in the budget’s execution. The Government is counting on a reserve of revenue increase and it is natural that this will follow the effects of the 2nd round of the fiscal relaxation,” Dacian Ciolos pointed out.
The draft budget has seen an accelerated pace in Parliament. Practically the joint committees for budget have discussed the budget for each ministry in just two days, with most of the budgets being adopted without any amendments. Out of 249 amendments, only 20 have been accepted.
According to the Finance minister Anca Dragu, the returns of the 2016 budget are estimated at 31 pc pout of GDP, down compared to 2015. She argued that the VAT cut has a high negative impact on the incomes, meaning the 4 percent cut from 24 to 20%, as well as the VAT cut from 24 to 9% on agriculture and irrigations.
The budgets of some ministries have been adopted amid long hours of debates and quarrels among the lawmakers.
The budget for Transports was adopted on such background, with rows over an amendment regarding financing a county road between Botosani and Targu Frumos, which has been finally withdrawn. The budget for Transports is however down by 7.63 pc compared to 2015, mounting to RON 11.8 billion.
The budget of the Development ministry also got a smaller budget for next year, reaching to RON 5.6 billion, mostly for new investments. The discussions were marked by disputes between Social Democrat MP Viorel Stefan and Liberal Gheorghe Ialomiteanu (former Finance minister), with the latter asking for the PSD lawmaker’s resignation after Stefan accused Ialomiteanu he went to “take a nap “ at noon.