The hikes in pensions and child allowances adopted in the past will increase budget expenses by some 1.1% of GDP this year, prime minister Florin Citu stated.

The Government will thoroughly review two laws with a major impact on the budget expenditures: the pension law and the law aimed at correlating the wages in the entire budgetary sector.

Both of them threaten the sustainability of the public finance system, Citu explained, G4media.ro reported.

Asked whether the amendments to the latter will come into force before the bill comes into force this September, the prime minister said that he could not tell whether the lawmakers can pass the Government's draft on such short notice. The law on wages in the budgetary sector has created more problems than it settled, Citu commented.

The law has been amended so many times that it no longer serves the initial purpose he argued.

The pensions should reflect past contributions of recipients, and the wages in the public sector should reflect the performance of the employees, he stated.

However, both laws have been revised so many times that one more attempt is unlikely to be received with confidence by neither pensioners nor the employees in the public sector.

The average wage in Romania's public sector is now 50% higher than in the private sector.

(Photo: Octav Ganea/ Inquam Photos)

iulian@romania-insider.com