"The amounts that the Fiscal authorities are owed by taxpayers who failed to pay their fiscal dues are ten times higher than the state's arrears, but the IMF insists on the state paying its own debts in order to prevent it from being itself a factor of arrearage.
Companies and individuals had 21.9 billion RON (5.1 billion euros) in overdue debts to the general consolidated budget at the end of June, while the state's late payments (by 90 days or more) to taxpayers (in the private and public sector) amounted to 1.
This makes the state a net creditor, despite continuing to have significant debt.
On July 31st, local budgets' arrears exceeded 1 billion RON, whilst overdue amounts to suppliers, as recorded in the state budget, stood at 787 million RON.
Overdue amounts owed to the social security budget amounted to almost 129 million RON. The arrears reported by ANAF do not differentiate between the private and the private sector.
The Government committed in the stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut to zero the arrears to the private sector, but at each review of the arrangement asked for a new derogation, after failing to meet the quarterly targets it had committed to. Last month, the head of the IMF's mission that reviews the arrangement with Romania, Jeffrey Franks, said that the state would have to pay around 2 billion RON in accumulated arrears, while a new derogation from the arrears payment target could be requested only if "serious efforts" are made to solve the problem." writen by Ciprian Botea
