The state budget law will be amended earlier than June so as to reallocate the saved funds to investments, said Minister of Finance Veronica Sirețeanu. In a crisis year, to ensure economic growth, the state must intervene and make investments in infrastructure so that the jobs could be kept and the adjacent industries could develop, IPN reports.
The minister said the state managed to save a part of the 5 billion lei allocated for providing cold-month compensation. But this money will not be reallocated to cover other costs, but will be kept for the future winter season.
“Money from compensation was saved, but another winter is coming. We must be sufficiently precautious and have reserves in the budget for next winter. We will not necessarily pay compensation the next winter season, as we did it now. We hope to find solutions to avoid paying compensation,” Veronica Sirețeanu stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei channel.
The official noted that the state budget is usually amended in the second half of April, when there is a clear picture of the revenues and costs. However, this year the amendment will be made earlier so that funds could be allocated for investments. The state will invest in infrastructure so as to ensure economic growth.
“We entered a new year after a year of painful crises. The budget had a very pronounced social line. The economic growth this year was projected at 2%, with an inflation of 14%. This is not enough. Respectively, we must see how we can ensure economic growth. The GDP growth includes the government costs or investments as a mandatory element. Respectively, a part of the incomes will be allocated for investments. Construction works are carried out in summer. If the budget is not amended by then, the amendment in summer may not help already. That’s why we will amend the budget earlier so that a part of the saved money could be directed to investments. The state must help the economy to grow. When you make investments, this means that a large part of the adjacent industries related to these investments keep jobs and ensure profit,” explained the minister.
Under the 2023 state budget law, the revenues will total about 64.8 billion lei, while the expenditure – 83.1 billion lei. This means that the budget deficit will be of over 18 billion lei.
