"Such a plan puts too much pressure on the government's finances, which requires cutting expenditures in other departments."
When Florica was speechless by Karaturi's questions, Finance Minister Albert revealed the biggest problem with his plan.
Yes, other people may not dare to say such things, but only the Minister of Finance dares to say so. He continued: "Currently, according to the Ministry of Finance's estimates, the revenue for the next fiscal year should be RON 2.6 billion."
This seems pretty good, enough to meet the plan mentioned by Karaturi. However, the accounts cannot be calculated like this. Romania currently needs to spend too much money. Military expenditures account for 31%, and other public expenditures such as scientific research, education, and medical care account for 31%.
The ratio is not low at all. Including the investment in new territories and other expenses, Romania's fiscal expenditure has actually already exceeded its income.
"We can issue government construction bonds, which can help us raise upfront capital."
Faced with financial opposition from the Finance Minister, Karaturi could only use the methods he could think of.
"It's bond issuance again. Don't you know that the government is currently issuing enough bonds?"
Facing Karaturi's words, Finance Minister Albert felt a surge of anger rising from his heart.
He has his own reasons for saying this. This year alone, 800 million lei have been issued in government bonds, and Finance Minister Albert is already very worried about this. He has told the Prime Minister more than once that Romania's finances have reached a warning level.
, the scale of debt cannot be expanded. Moreover, the current domestic financial situation is not very good, and the sales of government bonds are not high. As for foreign countries, sales are currently good in New York, and Romanian bonds in London and Paris are also not easy to sell.
This is not to say that 800 million lei government bonds are difficult for him, the finance minister. But the current scale of Romanian government bonds reaches 7.6 billion lei, more than half of which are long-term bonds of more than 10 years. Among these bonds,
Long-term bonds from around 1910 have entered a centralized exchange stage, so this is also the main reason for Romania's current financial tightness and the source of his troubles.
Seeing that almost everyone objected to Karaturi's plan, Bretianu, as Prime Minister, had no choice but to step forward and speak.
"Is there really no other way to finance this financially?"
"At present, the Ministry of Finance really has no money, unless the size of the army is reduced and the equipment purchased from Germany is reduced."
The words of Finance Minister Albert made the Prime Minister feel a little powerless. Whoever proposes to reduce military expenditures will be unlucky, not to mention the current ups and downs of the situation in Eastern Europe and the newly acquired territories. The military, which has just promoted two marshals, is currently in high spirits.
Facing the wrath of the military was enough. This proposal had to be abandoned.
As for the second proposal, it is even more confusing. Because this is a project that King Edel personally handles, it is not easy to get the money from the king. However, thanks to Edel's reasonableness, as long as he can persuade His Majesty himself, he will get it.
Support is actually easier than deducting money from some military leaders.
But even if the Finance Minister gave two conditions, Prime Minister Bretianu wanted to see if there were any other ways.
"Is there any other way? For example, if we continue to issue bonds, we can pay higher interest rates."
Facing the Prime Minister's inquiry, Albert, who was in charge of the money bag, immediately said bitterly: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, the interest rate on the bonds we issue abroad is already high enough. The 10-year bond yield has reached an annual interest rate of 6.27%.
It is already very high among countries. Currently, the bond market is close to saturation with our bonds, and if interest rates are raised further, the pressure on the government will be very great. We must ensure that we will not be overwhelmed by a run on maturing debt in the future."
The words of the Finance Minister gave the Prime Minister a headache, because he supports Karaturi's plan. As the prime minister of a country, he can see the role that Karaturi's plan will play in Romania's future, which is why he supports this plan.
.
The words of the Minister of Finance made the Prime Minister really embarrassed. He knew that many people in the government were peeping at the Yellow River in His Majesty's hands. It was not that he did not want the gold in the King's hands, but also wanted to take out other things. It was just that
The money was too difficult to come up with, and he was deeply resistant to it.
The last time I was able to get money, it was mainly because of the war, which was related to the triple interests of the military, the government, and His Majesty, so it was so easy to get the money from the King. Now I want to get the money from His Majesty,
Just the reason for the Juggernaut Heavy Industrial Zone was very difficult, which gave the Prime Minister a headache.
For this reason, he had to ask Karaturi: "Can this plan be smaller in scale? At present, the government's other expenses are too large and cannot be reduced. Let's make a plan that is easy to pass first, and then we can wait until the financial resources are sufficient.
expansion."
Seeing that the Prime Minister was also talking about downsizing, Karaturi cried out aggrieved. "Prime Minister, this current plan is best for the economy and national strength, and many projects cannot be moved at all. These are closely related industries, such as oil exploration, chemicals, and steel.
Smelting and equipment manufacturing. Moreover, even if the scale is reduced, the investment capital will have a small effect. For example, in infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity, it is impossible to reduce the initial investment capital.
In addition, the scale is small, and the ratio of investment and return will be quite uneconomical in the future. Moreover, the investment of these funds is also very beneficial to stabilizing the local area, and will also play a leading role in the long-term stability of Romania in the future."
What Karaturi said gave the Prime Minister an even greater headache. It was found that too many resources were also a problem, and the government completely lacked the funds to develop them.
"Let me think about it again."
The Prime Minister, who was unable to make a decision, chose to postpone the discussion when faced with this difficult problem.
So the meeting to discuss the construction of the heavy industrial zone ended like this, and all the officials left the venue one after another. Karaturi could only pack up his things and prepare to go back to his department to discuss it again.
"Your Excellency Karaturi, please wait a moment."
The Prime Minister was born at this time and stopped him.
When only the two of them were left, Prime Minister Bretianu sent the other staff out and then said: "Karaturi, there is something I want to say to you alone."
"Please speak, Your Excellency Prime Minister."
"In this year's election, I want to resign as party chairman."
Karaturi, who was completely unprepared, was shocked on the spot. He couldn't help but said, "Why?"
During the ten years that Bretianu was Prime Minister, Romania's economy developed rapidly internally, and its scale expanded nearly three times compared to before. Externally, huge new territories were negotiated for Romania.
Although there are various other reasons for these achievements, no one can ignore the role he played in them. Even newspapers now call him the greatest politician in Romania, and Karaturi's previous peek
The thought of the position of prime minister has long since dissipated in his mind as time goes by. It can be said that as long as he runs for election this time, the position of prime minister will not escape his grasp.
"The main reason is that I'm a little tired and want to let go of this responsibility."
Faced with the Prime Minister's remarks, Karaturi did not believe it at all. As a politician, there must be other reasons for not wanting to be Prime Minister again, but he would not continue to ask. So he could only continue: "If you feel tired,
Then you can definitely take a long vacation first."
Listening to Karaturi's comforting words, Bretianu could also say: "Okay, I'll take a vacation when I'm free. But I'm telling the truth. I've been busy with government affairs over the past few years, and I haven't been able to spend time with my family for a long time.
Yes, I feel a little shortchanged."
The conversation between the two ended there, but in Karaturi, the desire for the position of Prime Minister emerged again. I couldn't figure out why the Prime Minister would say such things, but someone must be able to figure it out.
