Romania Should Switch To ESA95 Reporting Procedures - President

05.08.2011 By Bostan Radu

Romanian and the IMF strongly maintain that the budget deficit for 2010 was computed accurately, President Traian Basescu said Saturday, adding that Romanian authorities are open to implementing the European System of Accounts (ESA).

The President said Romania would welcome Eurostat assistance to improve its reporting system, "since it is time Romania switch to the ESA."

Finance Ministry state secretary Gheorghe Gherghina said in late-April that last year's budget deficit, computed according to ESA95, could be 6.8%-6.9% of the gross domestic product, above the initially reported 6.4%, because the losses of state companies Termoelectrica and CFR Infrastructura would be included in the consolidated budget.

Romania's budget deficit is calculated monthly through the methods of financial and non-financial accounts.

The central bank handles the financial accounts data, while the Statistics Institute handles the non-financial accounts. Whenever there are discrepancies larger than 200 million lei (EUR48 million) between the two methods, an analysis is conducted.

Last year, the European Commission revised up by 0.3 percentage points its estimations on Romania's government deficit in 2008 and 2009, following a reclassification of state-owned companies inside the budget sector. (EUR1=RON4.1208)