The Government yesterday approved the second budget revision, which saw additional resources allocated for the payment of salaries and pensions until the end of the year, as well as cuts to the amounts dedicated to ministries and to local authorities.

Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomiţianu said after the Government meeting that the cuts to the budget allocated for certain public authorities "would not preclude any public institution from ending the financial year problem-free."

He gave the example of the Finance Ministry, whose budget was cut by 326.5 million RON as a result of interest rate savings.

Ialomiţianu gave assurances there was no danger of non-payment of salaries in the education sector as a result of the cuts to funds allocated for local budgets, with this budget adjustment being justified through the savings made from the amounts allocated from VAT and from the tax.

The Labour Ministry received the largest amounts as a result of the revision, with a further 987 million RON being allocated for the payment of pensions, of social benefits granted to single-parent families, and of child benefits.

The Government added 502 million RON to the amounts allocated to the Agriculture Ministry for projects funded from non-repayable EU funds "so that the EU money can be spent and attracted by insuring the necessary co-funding from the state budget." As for arrears, Ialomiţianu said 256 million euros had been allocated for the payment of healthcare debts.

The Government yesterday approved the second budget revision, which saw additional resources allocated for the payment of salaries and pensions until the end of the year, as well as cuts to the amounts dedicated to ministries and to local authorities.

Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomiţianu said after the Government meeting that the cuts to the budget allocated for