Anti-crisis programme unveiled: easier debt repayment, VAT compensation

The new anti-crisis programme has been unveiled by the Government, but it is still a "draft", at least that is what official statements suggest, but a few main directions emerge: the investment fund for the relaunch of the economy will be separate from the budget; companies will first pay the principal of an overdue debt to the budget, the number of fiscal statements will be reduced, and a new mechanism will be introduced, to compensate for the VAT owed to the state.

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc said yesterday: "We will allow payment of the principal to be made first, instead of the interest rates and penalties, when repaying debt to the fiscal authorities. The current practice is that when you are in debt, you first pay the penalties, while the principal of the debt continues to generate penalties, which leads to insolvency (...)."

According to Boc, the Government is also looking into the possibility of introducing a means to compensate for the VAT that a company is required to pay to the state by means of the VAT arrears owed to it by the state.

The major novelty of this relaunch plan is the future creation of a national investment fund, which will include minority stakes of the state in various companies.