Romanian Times reported that Romania’s consolidated budget posted a EUR 6 billion deficit or 5.1% of the gross domestic product in the first nine months of 2009.

The Finance Ministry announced that consolidated budget revenue had been EUR 27.5 billion, down by 6.7% YoY. The deficit is 40% wider than in the same period of 2008.

Budget revenue accounted for 23.3% of GDP, while expenses stood at 28.4% of GDP in the first nine months of 2009. The budget deficit was below the limit of EUR 6.4 billion agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund.

Romania secured EUR 19.95 billion of financial aid from the IMF, the European Union and other international institutions earlier this year to cope with deepening recession.

The agreement between Romania and the IMF fixes quarterly performance criteria for this year's budget deficit, which needs to be lower than 7.3% of GDP at the end of December.

(Sourced from www.romaniantimes.at)