Jeffrey Franks, IMF: Next tranche probably in February 2010

February 2010 is the most realistic date at which Romania can get the third tranche of the loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said Jeffrey Franks, chief of the IMF mission to Romania, on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Franks and the team of experts accompanying him on Wednesday had meetings with officials of the National Bank, at the end of which he said that the third tranche would be released in February although the Fund official previously said that, in January, the next evaluation mission would come to Bucharest and that it was possible that the third tranche, worth 1.5 billion euros, should be released as early as January 2010.

Jeffrey Franks said that it was possible that, in February 2010, both the third and the fourth tranches should be released. The fourth tranche was scheduled for March 2010, in keeping with the Stand-By Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding.

The chief of the IMF mission to Romania said that the evaluation team would submit the report as soon as possible to the Board for approval, but that February was the most probable date for the release of the third tranche and that there was no approval so far for the release of the two tranches simultaneously.

The 2010 budget is realistic and the challenge is to send it to Parliament as fast as possible, International Monetary Fund chief of mission Jeffrey Franks said at the end of talks held at the Public Finance Ministry on Tuesday.

We have had two days of very satisfactory talks. On a technical level we have an agreement on the 2010 budget. It is a very realistic budget, with a deficit of 5.9 percent of the GDP, Franks said, adding that the challenge at this moment was that it should be sent to Parliament as soon as possible.

Agerpres