Government supplements funds for "First Home"

The Government allocated Wednesday 200 million euros to guarantee loans taken by the "First Home" program.

"Today, the Ministry of Finance has made available to First Home program another line of credit guarantee of 200 million," said Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

Finance Minister Florin Georgescu said though that is about 200 million euros.

Florin Georgescu has shown that through this limit of 200 million euros loans of 400 million euros could be granted in the program, since half of the bank guarantee is provided.

"Because in the mechanism of ensuring 50 percent of the guaranteed loan is granted by the state and 50 percent is financed by the bank which took the risk, it's basically the availability of a debt limit of 400 million, which is double," the vice Prime Minister said.

Florin Georgescu showed that without this new line of credit guarantee, 95 percent of banks involved in the program had provided sufficient ceiling for credits guaranteed by the state.

"The first house has currently guarantee limits of about 95 percent of programs run by banks for loans to citizens who wish to access this program.

"But there are 2-3 banks that have consumed the limit and therefore at the level of the entire program the amount of the guarantee was supplemented with the equivalent of 200 million euros," added the Minister of Finance.

The Government cuts from the "non-transparent and inefficient spending"

According to Radio Romania Actualităţi reporter Angela Bârgăoan, after one month since the endowing, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said on Wednesday meeting that the government he leads has taken tax cuts where necessary, and measures for better management of expenditures.

One of the decisions relate to reducing expenditure and movements in public protocol.

According to Prime Minister Victor Ponta, the Emergency Ordinance for reducing costs and strengthening financial discipline attacked the traditional areas of opaque and inefficient spending of public money.

"There are many areas where we can make cuts, many areas where we can show that public money can be spent more accurate, more transparent and more efficient," said Victor Ponta.

The ordinance limits, primarily, the contracting of legal services, after the Court of Auditors found that 408 controlled public entities spent in 2008-2010, 135 million euros, only for such services.

In the future, the legal services firms may be used, only if the institutions are faced with complicated processes, involving large sums.

Finance Minister Florin Georgescu has announced that there will be budgetary discipline both in terms of traveling abroad, and entertainment costs.

"This reduction estimates that it will allow a public spending reduction in general, with 60 million lei.

"It is prohibited by this ordinance the purchasing of prints and other goods, for representative actions and protocol as well as for anniversaries and birthdays", said Florin Georgescu.

Exceptions are protocols actions afferent to projects financed by external grants.

It is banned, however, the contracting and developing of feasibility studies for targets that have not previously provided financing and there are no safety for their implementation.

Translated by Alexandra-Diana Mircea
MTTLC, Bucharest University