IMF 
Priorities for Romania: healthcare system, arrears, investments and state companies
Jeffrey Franks, IMF mission chief, said on Monday that Romania must have four priorities in the forthcoming period: Continue the reform in the healthcare system, a system that the IMF mission chief considers to be “very sick” and in need of a “comprehensive reform”; Eliminate arrears, as “these unpaid bills represent a major obstacle on the country’s growth path”; Increase expenditure on public investments, including the absorption of European funds, which is “a great stimulus to economic activity”; Implement profound reforms in state enterprises. On what concerns the last direction, the IMF mission chief said that “progress has been made for many state enterprises. In... citeste mai mult
IMF Approves First Review Of New Loan Deal With Romania
The International Monetary Fund Board approved on Monday the first review of the precautionary up deal with Romania. The IMF officials evaluated Romania's performance in the first quarter, as well as reforms which the authorities have pledged to implement. As a result of the approval of the review, the IMF will make available the second tranche, worth around EUR480 million. In March, Romania and the IMF signed a EUR5 billion loan agreement, successor to a larger EUR20 billion bailout package that ended in April this year. Under the new deal, the IMF will disburse Romania EUR3.5 billion, while the EU and the World Bank contribute with EUR1.4 billion and EUR400 million, respectively. However, Romania will access the funds only in case of economic distress. citeste mai mult
Central Bank: New Romania - IMF deal terms have been set
Romania’s cental bank governor Mugur Isarescu confirmed today what president Traian Basescu announced on Sunday: Romanian authorities have reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission regarding the terms of a new precautionary deal. The agreement will be signed for a period of two years and Romania will not access the EUR5 billion unless need arises. Basescu said the IMF will make available EUR3.6 billion to Romania as part of the new deal, while the remaining EUR1.4 billion will come from the EU. citeste mai mult
IMF: Retroactive Consumer Loan Norms Can Have Negative Effects For Romania
IMF mission head Jeffrey Franks stressed out that the decision to apply the EU directive on consumer loans retroactively could have “negative effects” for Romania. Franks said the Romanian authorities agreed to consider implementing the norms only for new loans. "We're optimistic we can find a solution," Franks said after a meeting with officials of Romania's consumer protection authority ANPC. Romanian government approved in June an emergency ordinance regarding consumer loans, based on a document drafted by ANPC. The act transposes a European directive into the local legislation. The ordinance eliminates early repayment fees for loans with variable interests and introduces a new calculation method for interests, based on a transparent reference index plus a fixed percentage, which cannot be modified throughout the duration of the contract. ANPC extended the directive's stipulations to also cover existing... citeste mai mult
IMF Review Mission Visits Romania On Wednesday
A delegation of the International Monetary Fund will arrive in Romania Wednesday, October 20, to review the country’s progress under a EUR13 billion loan agreement. IMF officials will also have preliminary talks with Romanian authorities about continuing the current program and negotiations will likely take place early next year. The delegation will look at statistics and assess progress made since the last evaluation and decide on the steps to be further taken to ensure macroeconomic and financial stability and help the country go back to economic growth, according to Tonny Lybek, the IMF's representative for Romania and Moldova. citeste mai mult
Romania’s Finance Minister: No Talks About A New IMF Loan
Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu said today that the Romanian authorities are not discussing about a new loan with the IMF representatives. "The topic in not on the talks agenda at this point," Vladescu told reporters. This matter was confirmed by Prime Minister Emil Boc. Vladescu’s statement comes as a respons to what Cezar Coraci, the head of Romanian employers' confederation UGIR-1903 said earlier. Coraci declared that IMF mission chief Jeffrey Franks told employers that Romanian authorities and the International Monetary Fund are discussing a possible new loan. citeste mai mult
IMF: Romania’s 2010 Economic Forecast To Be Revised
Jeffrey Franks, head of the IMF mission to Bucharest, announced that the financial institution will revise its forecast on Romanian economic growth for 2010. The official hinted that the revision will be more optimistic compared to a 3% contraction envisaged by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. "I'd say that EBRD's forecast is pessimistic," said Franks. In its latest forecast, the IMF said Romanian economy is expected to stagnate or decline by 0.5% this year, from a 7.1% contraction a year earlier. citeste mai mult
Romanian Government Wants To Sack At Least 100,000 State Employees by Year-End
Romania’s Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu announced today that, according to the IMF agreement, Romania must sack at least 70,000 employees from the public sector until the end of the year, so that the total number of persons working in this sector will go down from 1.36 million to 1.29 million. The minister said that the authoritie want to sack at least 100,000 persons so that the salaries of the remaining employees in the sector can be brought back to a decent level. The minister stressed he refers precisely to layoffs, as there are no more vacant positions in the public sector. citeste mai mult
Romanian Premier to Seek Confidence Vote for Anti-Crisis Law Package Thursday
Romanian Government will seek a confidence vote in the Parliament for the draft law comprising anti-crisis measures on Thursday, Environment Minister Laszlo Borbely said today. On Wednesday the Government will discuss the anti-crisis measures and will put them down in the letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund. Prime Minister Emil Boc told the press earlier today that the measures will take the form of a draft law, not an emergency ordinance. Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable Smso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language:#0400;... citeste mai mult
Romanian Unions and Employers Ask Govt to Draft a New Letter to IMF Deal
A new letter of intent to the loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund must be written, Romanian union and employers’ representatives said to the Government today, after Romania's Economic and Social Council assembly. They want their proposals included in the new letter, stressing they firmly disagree with the recently announced salary and pensions cuts. The assembly failed to approve, today, Romania's most recent letter of intent under the agreement with the IMF. The 15 government officials were the only to vote in favor, the 15 unionists voted against and employers' representatives voted in favor of the letter but also called for changes. Thus, the Council neither approved, nor disapproved the document and therefore will meet again next Monday. Romania's Cartel Alfa union confederation head, Bogdan Hossu, said unionists will stage a full-blown strike and call for Government's resignation if the Executive adopts the... citeste mai mult
