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23. 10. 09. - 09:00

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23. 10. 09. - 09:00

IMF mission to visit Romania next week

Romanian Times

A second International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will be in Romania from 28 October to 9 November to review the country’s progress.

The IMF said yesterday (Thurs) a follow-up mission might be necessary after a new government was in place.

"Due to ongoing political developments, a follow-up mission may be necessary to continue discussions after a new government has been formed," Jeffrey Franks, the IMF's Romania mission chief, said.

He added that the mission would assess the country's recent economic performance and discuss objectives during the next year and the means to achieve them.

"Successful completion of the second review will require a broad-based political commitment to approve a 2010 budget with a deficit no higher than 5.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP)," the statement noted.

Earlier this year, Romania secured 12.95 billion Euros of IMF money under a standby arrangement that included a series of fiscal and economic measures the Eastern European country had to implement over a relatively short span of time.

At a first review in August, the IMF agreed to allow Romania to run a budget deficit of 7.3 per cent of GDP this year, nearly double the budget deficit of 4.6 per cent of GDP initially envisaged.

However, Romania must bring the budget deficit down to below six per cent of GDP in 2010.

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