PM says Romania must raise country's rating

BUCHAREST, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Romania must raise the country's rating in order to bolster the economy in the wake of a 5.2-percent budget deficit in 2008, Prime Minister Emil Boc said Wednesday.

"Because of the budget deficit of the previous year, the financing possibility is low and costs a lot. Everybody is waiting to see very clear and firm measures from a stable government," Bocsaid.

He stressed that the government aims to better finance the economy through raising the nation's rating.

Boc said that last year Romania failed to make good use of its economic growth of 7.8 percent.

"In the year 2008, instead of saving money for more difficult times, we have spent not only everything we had, but the deficit stands at 5.2 percent," he said.

He added that the government must not repeat "the mistakes of the past."

"In the context of the current economic crisis, we have to find the best solutions for Romania," Boc said. "Nobody has the unique solution to the crisis, but I am convinced that, together, we can diminish the effects of the crisis. We can take the best measures Romania can afford at this moment."

Last November, the ratings agency Fitch downgraded its sovereign ratings for Romania to below investment-grade, after an earlier Standard & Poor's downgrade turned Romania into the only European Union member state with a non-investment grade credit rating. Moody's rates Romania's sovereign debt at Baa3.