IMF puts pressure on Romania to get it to sign an accord this year

The International Monetary Fund, whose representatives are in Romania on a regular mission, press the government to determine it to sign an accord this year, a move the Cabinet tries to elude, people close to the situation told NewsIn.

The meeting between the IMF people and Ministry of Finance is on-going right now.

Romania's government, reticent in accepting the conditions the IMF would impose in case of a loan, wants to borrow money from the foreign market to cover the 2008 budget gap and pay debts, the same people said. Yet, the option of an aid from the IMF is not to be erased from the list, they added.

Romania does not need any financial aid from the IMF, as the foreign currency reserves cover more than 90 percent of the country's short, medium and long-term debt, the central bank's (BNR) vice governor, Cristian Popa, said at the end of October.

However, since then the economic context worsened and less money than estimated is entering the government's accounts, making it harder to wrap up the budget bill for this year. The state wallet is so empty that authorities mull freezing public salaries and pensions for six months to spare money for investments, a decision the president would not oppose.

NewsIn