Basescu: We either freeze salaries or lay off 5% of public system employees

However, Basescu indicated that “low salaries cannot be affected. A solution will have to be found for raising these in the near future,” the President said, adding that this is also the case for low pensions.

Basescu indicated that the 6.5 percent difference between the government’s initial 2.5 percent economic growth forecast and that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), of -4 percent, translates into a 1.1 percent cut in budgetary expenses.

Government sources told the NewsIn agency that, at the first budgetary correction, the government will reduce consolidated general budget expenditure by some RON 6 billion, to fit the budget deficit of 4.6 percent of gross domestic product agreed upon with the IMF.