The situation of public finances remains fragile and generates concern that the budget deficit target for this year risks not being reached, and the reduction of the deficit should be achieved through a mix of measures that also target the area of budget expenditures and, above all, fiscal administration in order to obtain a greater collection of existing taxes, Chairman of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) Daniel Anghel said on Monday after a meeting of investors with the minister of finance and his team.
According to a FIC press statement released on Monday, FIC has continued its dialogue with the Ministry of Finance by organising an event dedicated to fiscal strategy that brought together half of the presidents and financial directors of the FIC member companies with Minister of Finance Marcel Bolos and his team from the Ministry of Finance and the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF).
During the event, investors raised questions regarding the sustainability of the national budget, tax reform, digital transformation of ANAF and the implementation of electronic reporting systems, the impact of measures adopted last year, measures to support large investments and to stimulate innovation, research and development, developments in international financial markets and dialogue with rating agencies, and the financing of the healthcare system.
FIC members support the strategic, medium- and long-term approach to key areas, as is the case with the fiscal regime, which must be analysed from the perspective of the results recorded at the level of collection and the contribution to the state budget, but also economic development and the identification of those elements that must be adjusted and to find sustainable solutions.
„The efforts for fiscal consolidation are essential for the perception of investors and for the fulfillment of the conditions in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and implicitly for attracting European funds through this mechanism. As a result, it is very important to see if the measures taken, in this case the fiscal package entered into force this year, have the expected results and what are the future fiscal policies. If the fiscal package does not reach its objective, the business environment can expect other fiscal decisions. However, the reduction of the deficit should be achieved through a mix of measures that also target the area of budget expenditures and, above all, fiscal administration in order to obtain a greater collection of existing taxes. From this perspective, we argue that ANAF reform and digital transformation remain vital for fiscal consolidation. At the same time, a predictable and stable fiscal framework is necessary for the business environment to make investments with an impact on the economy and, obviously, for the revenues to the state budget,” said Anghel.
Since 2019, Romania has been in a complicated budgetary context and a balanced approach from the authorities is needed to ensure the assumed deficit for 2024, says FIC. The presidents and financial leaders of FIC members, together with the representatives of the ministry, agreed that in order to ensure the sustainability of the state budget, it is necessary to support investments with a high added value, to improve collection by modernizing the entire ANAF architecture and streamlining and prioritizing public service administration expenditure.
FIC and Ministry of Finance representatives concluded that the partnership between the FIC and the Ministry will continue in April with technical discussions regarding tax reform and the digital transformation of ANAF.
AGERPRES
