The Governernment has 2 billion euros left for spending in the last month of the year, after the deficit went up to 5.2% of GDP eleven months into the year, 1.6% below the 6.8% target agreed upon with the IMF.
Beyond the question why the need to cut wages if the Government has 2 billion euros left in December, another one comes up: how will this money be spent, since experience shows that the "gift giving month" is a month of governmental squandering?
In recent years, the spending of every government doubled in the last month of the year compared with the average of the previous months, with local authorities usually to blame for it. Will it happen again in 2010? Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomiţianu hopes it will not. The chairman of the Businesspeople Association of Romania Florin Pogonaru feels "the surplus" should go towards payment of the state's arrears to private companies, but has his doubts about it actually happening.
The Governernment has 2 billion euros left for spending in the last month of the year, after the deficit went up to 5.2% of GDP eleven months into the year, 1.6% below the 6.8% target agreed upon with the IMF.
Beyond the question why the need to cut wages if the Government has 2 billion euros left in December, another one comes up: how will this money be spent, since experience shows that the "gift giving month" is a month of governmental squandering?
In recent years, the spending of every government doubled in the last month of the year compared with the average of the previous months, with local authorities usually to blame for it. Will it happen again in 2010? Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomiţianu hopes it will not. The chairman of the Businesspeople Association of Romania Florin Pogonaru feels "the surplus" should go towards payment of the state's arrears to private companies, but has his doubt