Valentin Lazea: "Taxing banks with 1% on turnover is a political-social compromise"

Taxing banks with 1% of turnover is a measure that should have been taken a long time ago, Valentin Lazea, chief economist of the National Bank of Romania, told us.

Valentin Lazea told us: "Taxing the banks with 1% of the turnover is a compromise not only fiscal, but also political and social, and it must be seen that way. I think it's a welcome compromise that needed to be made. Anyone who has grievances and begins to throw stones at this package of fiscal changes, which is not perfect, is doing nothing but criticizing a situation where the Government's intention is to solve the problem of the budget deficit. If the Executive does this better or less well, that remains to be discussed, to be seen, but the intention is good and must be appreciated as such".

The chief economist of the BNR specified that the legislative package does not only aim at fiscal balancing, but also the implementation of social policies, taking into account the fiscal, political and economic consequences.

Regarding the reduction of the budget deficit following the implementation of the fiscal changes, Mr. Valentin Lazea said: "At this stage we cannot be critical. We will see if increasing the revenue base through these fiscal measures is enough to reduce the budget deficit. Until now, not having the proposed law in front of us, concrete calculations could not be made, calculations that will be made in the coming days".

His Lordship concluded by saying that the fiscal changes were necessary because the state budget was in a permanent imbalance due to the continuous increase in expenditure.