Romanian Fin Min Hopes To Get IMF 3rd Tranche In Jan

He added, however, the 2010 budget – which is a prerequisite of getting the installment – needs to be endorsed by the new government.

Romania has been in the hands of a caretaker government since mid-October, after the centrist minority cabinet led by Prime MInister Emil Boc lost a confidence vote in Parliament.

The eastern European country plunged deeper into political turmoil last week, when the leftist opposition Social Democrats challenged in court the presidential elections won by incumbent President Traian Basescu.

During December 14 to 16, a small technical team from the IMF and the European Commission is in Bucharest for technical work on the 2010 budget with experts of the Finance Ministry, the IMF said Monday.

The visit „will also serve as preparation for the review mission to complete the second review of Romania’s stand-by arrangement,” the fund also said, without providing timing for the review.

Pogea explained the discussions between the ministry representatives and the IMF team aim at settling the 2010 budget’s „large figures,” namely the revenues and the expenses. The budget draft is based on an economic growth of 0.5% and a budget deficit of 5.9% of the gross domestic product.

Romania, hit hard by the global economic crisis, relies heavily on a EUR20 billion IMF-led loan package obtained in the spring.

So far, the country has received around EUR7 billion from the IMF in two installments and was scheduled to get another EUR1.5 billion in December.

But the IMF and the EU delayed new disbursements until Romania has a proper government in place.

IMF official Tonny Lybek said in November that prolonged political uncertainty in Romania and the failure to adopt the 2010 budget in time could prompt the fund to release its third and fourth loan tranches together in March next year, subject to a new quarterly assessment.