IMF rejects accusations of having accelerated crisis in Central and Eastern EuropeUpdated: 08-04-2010 | Regional Europe

The International Monetary Fund rejected accusations made by the deputy governor of the Central Bank of the Czech Republic, Mojmir Hampl that it would have accelerated the impact of the financial crisis in Central and Eastern Europe to determine states in the area to ask for IMF help, Bloomberg informs.

Hampl said last week that IMF actions were "an attempt to determine the Fund's involvement in saving the whole area," according to an interview granted by the Austrian daily Der Standard.

Affirmations suggesting that IMF has "intensified somehow the crisis to the benefit of financial interests are in contradiction with the real situation, spiting at the same time the common sense and understanding of the international community," the deputy director of IMF international relations department Gerry Rice declared in a letter addressed to the publication.

The Fund granted financial aid of billion of dollars to states among which Hungary, Romania or Latvia in the context of the decline of their economies and because of gridlocks in financial markets. Countries which concluded accords with the international institution had to adopt harsh measures to comply with loan programs.

"On the contrary, IMF helped fight the crisis through rapid and decisive actions," Rice noted, adding that the Czech state is among the supporters of the role of the institution, at financial level included.

The Czech Republic, which did not request foreign financial aid during the crisis, was affected by the most serious recession since the fall of communism as a result of the decline of exports.

In the interview granted to Der Standard, Hampl accused international institutions of having used wrong information in evaluating the banking system in the Czech Republic, but they were correlated only after the intervention of the central bank. Zdenek Tuma, the governor of the Central Bank of the Czech Republic said that Hampl's remarks represented "personal opinions and not the position of the bank".

Romania has a stand-by accord for two years with IMF, signed in March 2009 for a loan of 12.95 billion euro from the institution. The program also includes EU,WB EBRD and IEB, the overall value of the foreign credit engaged by Romania from international financial institution being 19.95 billion euro.