„We might be able to give builders state guarantees to take loans for works,” Berceanu said late Tuesday on B1 TV, adding the proposition has been discussed with the IMF.
Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu said earlier Tuesday the IMF has allowed Romania to increase the ceiling on general government guarantees by EUR1 billion in 2010.
In September last year, the IMF agreed to increase the ceiling on public guarantees to RON7.7 billion in 2009 and to RON8.6 billion in 2010, from RON6 billion initially allowed. However, the IMF insisted that the increase in guarantees be devoted exclusively to financing the counterpart payments of investment projects financed by the EU or other multilateral institutions.
Teams of the IMF, the World Bank and the European Commission arrived in Bucharest January 20 to review the Romania’s performance under a EUR20 billion bailout loan, in view of disbursing new aid tranches totaling EUR3.3 billion.
The mission’s conclusions will be presented in a press conference Wednesday morning.