The analysis of budgetary execution in the first 9 months of 2018 indicates that the implementation of the investment plan is not a priority for Romania’s Government this year as well, according to AmCham, one of the biggest business organizations in the country.

“The difference between the overly optimistic forecasted budgetary revenues and the exceeded expenditures for salaries and social insurances affect the implementation on the investment plan in 2018,” reads an AmCham analysis.

Romania recorded a budget deficit of 1.77% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in the first nine months of this year, compared to 0.79% of GDP in the same period of 2017. Thus, the government has little room left for more investments as it has to keep the budget deficit under 3% of the GDP.

In the first nine months of this year, expenditures for investments, which include capital expenditures as well as those related to programs developed through internal and external financing, reached RON 15.2 billion (EUR 3.26 bln). Although 25,7% higher compared to the same period last year, the implemented investments only reached 39.5% of the planned level for 2018 of RON 38.5 billion (4.2% of GDP).

“A long term sustainable economic growth cannot be achieved without a real commitment for investments and structural reforms to enhance the impact of investments in the economy and the society, by consolidating the performance of public institutions and increasing the quality of public expenditures,” AmCham concluded.

editor@romania-insider.com