Budget adjustment delayed by floods

Completion of the budget adjustment has been postponed due to the floods, which were the cause of additional expenses requiring extra calculations, said Finance Minister Ionut Popescu. “The budget adjustment was almost complete by the time the floods occurred. Several ministries, including the environment, transport and farming ministries, have applied for additional funds. New expenses appeared that could affect the budget deficit and we had to redo some of the calculations,” Popescu explained. He said he expected the adjusted budget to be finalised by the end of the month or early next month at the latest. The authorities have been unable to assess the damages caused by the floods in the past month, with Premier Calin Popescu Tariceanu as late as last Sunday requesting that all ministries involved produce as clear a report as possible as soon as possible. The only assessment to be submitted so far was for Banat, which saw the government announce 150 million euros in damages. An IMF official arrived in Bucharest earlier this week to work together with Romanian experts to help complete the budget adjustment ahead of the IMF negotiation mission due to arrive in Romania in mid June. ZF