Finance Ministry boasts lower deficit

The budget deficit accounted for only 2.4% of the Gross Domestic Product last year, below the initially set target – 2.7%, the Finance Ministry officially announced on Monday. The deficit amounted to 43,748.8 billion ROL. The Finance Ministry did not specify the GDP value taken into account. However, by comparing the sum of 43,748.8 billion ROL to a GDP value of 1,890,778.3 billion ROL, calculated by the National Statistics Institute (INS), an even lower budgetary deficit results – 2.3% of GDP. The Finance Ministry was quite late in releasing the 2003 budget data, long after the information had appeared in statistical reports drafted by INS and the National Bank. Given the encouraging results, the IMF is pressuring the Finance Ministry to decide on an even lower target for 2004, some 1.7% of GDP. Discussions will resume next month. ZF