“The 1.6 billion [lei], personnel expenses for the ten days [Ed. n. –unpaid holiday for civil servants], will probably turn into additional expenses that will affect the general consolidated budget. Given that we have not yet received a response, there is no time left to apply this,” Pogea said, considering that the Constitutional Court postponed making a decision until December.
Pogea insists that the number of civil servants has dropped by more than 2,300 in the 12 months ending in September. However, data provided by the National Institute of Statistics indicates an annual increase of over 6,000 jobs in public administration alone at the end of September.
The minister added that he hopes the budget deficit has a “favourable” evolution in October, after reaching 5.14 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of September, below the 5.4 percent of GDP target agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pogea recalled that Romania must keep narrowing its budget deficit to less than three percent of GDP by 2012, to meet the criteria requested by the European Union. The Romanian government and the IMF agreed, for the end of this year, on a budget deficit target of 7.3 percent of GDP.
