Romania will formally ask the International Monetary Fund for a new aid deal this year, and the focus of the negotiations would be on implementing structural reforms as opposed to the country’s budget deficit, the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici said on Tuesday, quoted by Reuters, agerpres.ro informs.
“Certainly we will officially ask the IMF this year to start negotiations on a new deal,” Teodorovici said. “An IMF deal can exist without participation from the European Commission, they are different deals.”
He also said the 2016 budget deficit is projected at 2.1 percent of GDP for now, if planned increases in public sector wages are not taken into account. If they are factored in, the deficit would still be under 3 percent, he said.
In his turn, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said, after the vote in Parliament on the motion of censure tabled by the Liberal Party, that it would be better for Romania to have a new agreement with the IMF but this should be discussed first in the rulling coalition and then with the opposition and the president. According to PM, it would be a precautionary agreement and on structural reforms.
Romania’s economy has been supported by a series of aid deals from the IMF and the European Commission since 2009, and the latest one expired in September.