The 2009 budget is mainly aimed at preserving and creating jobs through massive public investments in infrastructure, which are the largest after 1989, Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc told a plenary session of Parliament on Friday.

"There is no single response to the economic crisis facing us now. Yet we know some things that have proved viable in times of crisis. The government should spend less on its maintenance and gets more preoccupied with massive public investments in the economy. That is what we are doing," said Boc after the parliament passed the budget earlier on Friday.

"Investments are our priority as the only solution to preserve and create jobs in Romania," stressed Boc.

He said that investment resources will be immediately released so that ongoing major public projects, for motorways, beltways, schools, hospitals and agriculture may continue.

"We also mean to support the business milieu and the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to pay out outstanding debts, replenish the capital of CEC Bank and Eximbank, exempt reinvested profits from taxation, and establish a loan guarantee fund for SMEs. All these measures are on the immediate agenda of the government," said Boc.

The prime minister also said that drawing in European funds is another preoccupation of his cabinet, pointing out that such funds offers Romania a chance for modernization.

"We also intend to clean up the public finances, contain economic decline and secure the premises for the country's economic recovery. At the same time we intend to display solidarity with and protect the most vulnerable members of our society, those on very low income, who should not suffer in these times of crisis or be the hardest hit by the economic impact of the crisis that is facing us," said Boc.