Ilie Bolojan: “I do not regret the VAT increase. If that measure was so bad and could have been avoided, why didn’t you see in the current government’s program that it would reduce VAT back to 19%?”

Interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said Sunday on B1 TV that he does not regret raising VAT from 19% to 21%, arguing that the measure was necessary to avoid the suspension of European funds and the risk of Romania defaulting on its payments.

Bolojan explained that Romania had to present a credible plan to improve budget revenues within two weeks, after authorities had promised for two years that they would take measures to this end without implementing them. In his view, raising VAT was the only solution available at that time.

The interim prime minister said that the future government’s program does not provide for returning VAT to 19%. He asked why a tax cut was not included in the program if the increase had been such a wrong and easily avoidable decision. Bolojan warned that such a measure could create problems during Romania’s future credit rating assessments.

Regarding the Niculescu government, he said that any government can make its own calculations, but that, under the current circumstances, another tax increase would not be advisable. Instead, he supported continuing to restructure public spending.