Romania ended 2013 with a budget deficit of 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and an economic growth higher than expected, according to the Romanian prime-minister Victor Ponta.

“We ended the year - now things are very clear - with a deficit of 2.5 percent of GDP, and at a European level being only a few countries are under 3 percent. We also have an economic growth higher than expected,” Ponta said at local TV station Romania TV.

Romania’s budget had a deficit of some EUR 2.2 billion (RON 9.8 billion) in November this year, namely 1.56 percent of GDP, almost one percentage point below the 2.5 percent target agreed for 2013 with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

After the first ten months, the general consolidated budget’s deficit represented 1.21 percent of GDP.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: gov.ro)