Instalment payments on IMF loan to stifle budget from 2013 on

2013 is heralded to be the most difficult financial year for
Romania, with the state having to spend 5.2 billion euros out of
its pocket for the loan taken out from the IMF alone, if the
repayment schedule is met. The sum would account for almost 10% of
overall budget revenues, which could climb to 53-56 billion euros
in 2013. The money from the IMF were added to the foreign reserve
of the National Bank, enabling it to spend several billion euros to
protect the RON, as well as being an emergency solution for the
Ministry of Finance to cover the huge budget deficit. For the 5.5
billion euros already borrowed from the Fund from May 2009, when
the loan agreement was approved until November, Romania has already
paid 101 million euros in interests, according to data from the NBR
(National Bank of Romania). “I would not worry too much about the
repayment schedule. Our repayment capability is quite good at the
moment, we have a low public debt as percentage of GDP compared
with other countries. In the euro zone, the average is over 80%,
and we are below 30%. There is no reason to worry,” believes Ionut
Dumitru, chief economist of Raiffeisen Bank.