IMF Approves EUR2.3B Disbursement For Romania

The money will be transferred to Romania by March 3.

The IMF’s board unanimously voted the review report on Romania and accepted a second waiver of non-observance of the performance criterion pertaining to general government domestic arrears.

„As to the fiscal aspects, the discussion focused mainly on the expenditure targets, as well as on the necessity to adopt a series of measures in the tax-collecting sector, which needs to be improved,” said Mihai Tanasescu, Romania’s representative to the IMF.

The IMF also insisted that Romania adopt the fiscal responsibility and pension laws in timely manner, Tanasescu added.

An IMF mission came to Romania January 20 for the second and third reviews under the standby arrangement.

Mission head Jeffrey Franks said at the time that Romania’s program with the IMF was broadly on track and he would recommend the board to disburse the next tranches.

Half of the EUR2.3 billion amount will go to the state budget, Franks said.

Romania and the IMF agreed last spring on a EUR13 billion stand-by loan, as part of a EUR20 billion package that also includes funds from the European Commission, the World Bank and other international lenders.

So far, Romania has received roughly EUR7 billion in IMF money and a first loan tranche of EUR1.5 billion from the Commission.

The Commission will disburse a second tranche worth EUR1 billion to Romania early March, the country’s Finance Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

Joint teams from the IMF and EU are scheduled to visit Romania for a new review mission late April or early May.