"All the social projects, which were announced yesterday, November 18, have financial coverage in the 2019 budget", said Prime Minister Ion Chicu. According to the head of the executive, except for the salary increase, the cost of the other projects is around 1.1 billion lei.
"All these projects have been foreseen and included in the draft budget. It is covered. The salary increase will cost another 1.125 billion, according to Law 270. I want to announce that this increase was not decided upon now, this increase was planned in December 2018", Ion Chicu told reporters after the government meeting.
According to the prime minister, the gradual increase of salaries in the public sector was foreseen in 2018, starting from a 1500 minimum reference value in 2019, to 1700 - in 2020 and 1900 - in 2021. "It's the eve of 2020, the minimum reference base value will increase as planned", said the prime minister. Salaries will increase on average by 10%, while some groups will collect up to 30% more.
"It is not necessary to increase taxes, it is not necessary to increase the fiscal burden on the economic agents and on the citizens. These expenses are planned ahead. I can't stress this enough: the increase in revenue and expenditure in 2020, compared to 2019, is exactly the same in absolute figures as the increase from 2019 compared to 2018 and so on. There is nothing extraordinary. These are forecasts that emerge from last years' macroeconomic indicators and I assure you that the rumors regarding a deficit are ungrounded", said Prime Minister Chicu. The head of the executive said that the main source for financing expenses is tax revenues.
On November 18, during a press conference, the head of state, the prime minister and the Parliament Speaker introduced seven social bills, which include measures such as granting seven hundred lei to pensioners on the eve of the holidays, indexing pensions twice a year, increasing salaries for the public sector, etc.
