Ensuring sustainable economic growth is a short, but also a medium and long term objective of the Government, other important objectives being inflation reduction and fiscal-budgetary consolidation, Finance Minister Marcel Bolos said Thursday at the briefing at the end of the Government meeting, write Agerpres.

„The objective we have in the short term, but also in the medium and long term, is to ensure sustainable economic growth. And from this perspective (…) in the area of the food industry and the construction materials and construction industry, which are important for us in this period, as we are implementing a series of transport infrastructure projects in parallel, these types of state aid schemes will be promoted and approved in the next Government meetings. This is a first step towards sustainable economic growth, particularly in this area of investment and especially in the context in which for the agri-food industry, but also for the construction industry, we have had state aid schemes financed from European funds,” said Bolos.

He mentioned, in this context, the micro-grants and working capital grants scheme for the agri-food industry from May 2022, the state aid scheme worth 150 million euros for the agri-food industry from October 2022, as well as 150 million euros for the construction industry.

Regarding the reduction of inflation, he stressed that a mix of monetary and fiscal policies is needed and that a meeting with representatives of the National Bank could take place next week.

The Finance Minister also said that the budget deficit target of 4.4% is a commitment to the European Union, as fiscal-budgetary consolidation is an objective that is part of the criteria for joining the euro area.