Budget deficit will be 4bn lei at yearend, Finance Minister

The national public budget deficit will amount to 4 billion lei towards the end of this year. This is 9.4% of the GDP. The sources from which the deficit will be covered have not been yet determined, Minister of Finance Mariana Durlesteanu said at Friday’s meeting of the Government, Info-Prim Neo reports. On June 30, the budget deficit was 2.037 billion lei. The deficit is covered from the incomes coming from the privatizations made last yearned. Durlesteanu said that revenues of 10.8 billion lei had been collected into the national public budget between January 1 and June 30. This is 89% of the projections. The spending totaled 12.9 billion lei. The incomes to the state budget came to 6.1 billion lei or 85.9% of the projections. The income tax totaled 88 million lei, by 12% more than planned. The VAT was 1.5 billion lei or 96.6% of the plan. The excises fell by 80 million lei, except those on gasoline and diesel oil, whose share rose to 689 million lei from January 1. The reduction stemmed from the 35 million lei decrease in the volume of alcoholic products supplied and the decline in beer consumption and the number of cars purchased. A sum of 567 million lei of the VAT and of 15.2 million lei of the excises was refunded. The state budget expenditure was 7.6 billion lei or 77.6% of the plan.