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Romania Meets IMF’s Loan Terms, With ‘Maybe’ One Exception – Official

Romania has met almost all targets set for September of its EUR13 billion standby arrangement with the International Monetary Fund, with maybe one exception, IMF mission’s head Jeffrey Franks said Wednesday.
Romania Meets IMF’s Loan Terms, With ‘Maybe’ One Exception - Official
04 nov. 2009, 20:22, English

Franks didn’t say what the exception was, but mentioned Romanian authorities must still approve a series of laws in the near future.

He said the IMF has proved flexible related to the loan terms, as signals pointing to a worsening of the Romanian economy were independent of the authorities’ will.

Last week, an IMF official said Romania must adopt the 2010 budget by the yearend to receive the next tranches of the loan in due time.

On Wednesday, the parliament empowered the country’s caretaker government to forward the 2010 draft budget for approval, as the Cabinet was stripped of its powers after it failed a no-confidence vote early last month.

The IMF, which oversees a EUR20 billion loan package to Romania that also includes funds from the EU and other international lenders, has sent a second mission to Romania late October to review the country’s economic performance.

Romania’s budget deficit targets will be left unchanged at 7.3% of the gross domestic product and at 5.9% of the GDP for 2009 and 2010, respectively, Franks said.

However, the IMF will show leniency to Romania in finding methods to avoid exceeding these caps, Franks added.