Romania has announced that it cannot lower the current 24% VAT rate unless economic growth of more than 3 percent continues until 2015. Like some other EU countries, Romania raised its VAT rate on a temporary basis to deal with the consequences of the financial crisis.
The VAT rate was raised from 19 percent to 24 percent after the financial crisis, with the intention of reducing it to 19% when economic stability returned. Although the VAT rate cannot yet be lowered there could be some relief for consumers by a reduction of VAT on meat, fruit and vegetables to the 9 percent lower rate instead of the standard rate.
