IMF lends another 900m euros to Romania

Another 884 million euros are going into the foreign currency reserve managed by the NBR (National Bank of Romania) after the IMF board approved on Friday the release of the sixth instalment of the nearly 13 billion-euro loan taken out by Romania in the spring of 2009.
So far Romania has taken out around 11.3 billion euros from the Fund, with the money being used to finance the deficit budget indirectly, as well as directly.
The supplementing of the NBR’s reserve, which already exceeds 31 billion euros, will allow for new cuts to the banks’ minimum reserve requirements in order for them to keep financing the budget deficit by the purchase of T-bills.
Largely a formality now, the approval of the quarterly report that reviews the compliance with commitments made by the Government in the stand-by arrangement has occurred without problems, although the IMF requirement for the state to pay its debts to companies again failed to be met.
Similarly to all previous reviews, the NBR governor and the finance minister requested a postponement in the supplementary letter of intent, and the IMF approved it.