IMF approves technical extension of agreement

(story to be published in tomorrow’s issue, March 29)

The executive directors of the International Monetary Fund were to decide on Monday evening whether they agreed to the 60-day extension of the loan agreement concluded with Romania, but the outcome had not been made public by the edition close. “Each of the 24 IMF executive directors sent to the cabinet of the general secretary of the Fund documentation showing whether they agreed with the technical extension of the accord,” official sources stated. According to these sources, in case one of the executive directors did not agree with the technical extension, the request was to be rejected. “We think the political decision will be this time, too, favourable to Romanian authorities,” the above-quoted sources maintain. The technical extension is necessary because the budget will not be passed by Parliament by the end of March, when the accord expires. This way, Romania would have another viable accord with the IMF and it would solicit its extension until February 2001. Should the Parliament pass the budget with a deficit of 3 percent of GDP, the IMF board will discuss Romania’s declaration of intent on the extension of the standby accord, Sebastian Vladescu, a secretary of state within the Finance Ministry, stated on Monday. Romania has so far received $70 million of the 547 million dollars, the value of the four tranches negotiated last August with the IMF. After Romania succeeded in servicing its foreign debt on last year, IMF officials said that “the hard knot of accord” was the state budget on this year.