The Romanian Government approved the letter of intention agreed with the IMF. Elsewhere in the news, "It is not the ministers who ask for bribe and charge projects, it's the civil servants". Last but not least, Romania, between the Russian-German coalition and the US alliance.
The Romanian Government approved the letter of intention agreed with the IMF, Adevarul informs. The letter adopted on Wednesday, May 26, includes the austerity measures meant to cut budget spending, like reducing pensions and salaries in the public sector. PM Emil Boc states austerity measures will only be enforced by the end of this year. Romania's budget deficit must be reduced to 6.8% for 2010. Boc said this would not happen by an increase in taxes and the economic environment would not, thus, be suffocated.
Boc's claims that an increase in taxes would have hindered the economic recovery, would have led to inflation and this is the less damage the austerity measures could make. He explained that Romania needed to borrow 8 billion euros because it consumes more than it produces and it needs to support the deficit. He also stated that the minimum state-supported salary is 600 lei and the minimum pension - 330 lei.
According to the PM, those owning an expensive cars will not receive the minimum guaranteed benefit. But the mothers' child care benefit is being cut by 15%, but won't amount to less than 600 lei. He added that these measures will help pay the state's debt to the private sector. The letter will be sent to the International Monetary fund, to be approved by its board at the end of June.
"It is not the ministers who ask for bribe and charge projects, it's the civil servants", President Basescu said, quoted by Gandul. This was part of his speech arguing in favour of reducing salaries and pensions, when he even resorted to calculating pen to
