“The first IMF review mission, headed by Jeffrey R. Franks, will be visiting Bucharest during the period July 29 to August 10. The mission is expected to disseminate its conclusions at the end of the mission,” IMF’s release said.
The mission will meet with the Romanian authorities and representatives of trade unions, business associations, and banks. European Commission and the World Bank representatives will participate in some of the meetings.
The release of the loan’s second tranche, worth almost EUR1.9 billion, depends on the first review.
Early May, IMF released the first tranche, worth EUR5 billion, of the total EUR12.95 billion loan.
The visit is part of regularly quarterly missions of the institution and aims to analyze the fulfillment of the agreement, potential progress on the fiscal side, in the public pensions, and monitoring state-owned companies to avoid debts’ gathering, IMF’s representative in Romania and Bulgaria Tonny Lybek told MEDIAFAX earlier Monday.
Lybek said performance criteria negotiated within the loan agreement could be modified if there are external factors that led to a failure of their fulfillment.
Romania and the IMF agreed on a EUR12.95 billion two-year stand-by arrangement that includes performance criteria for the budget deficit, the external gap and the inflation rate.
The IMF loan is part of a EUR19.95 billion financial support package that also includes funds from the European Commission, the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.