Money from IMF conditioned on Ordinance 50

The modification of Ordinance 50 on the individuals’ loans so as not to be applicable to existing loans is one of the pre-conditions for Romania to receive the next tranche of around 900 million euros from the IMF, according to the additional letter of intent agreed with the IMF.
There is a lot at stake both for bankers and for customers, with the main point of contention being the application of the new regulations for existing loans, as well, which is considered to be retroactive by bankers.
The application of the ordinance for the eight million existing contracts would firstly amount to a transparent manner of calculating the interest rate, based on verifiable indicators.
Preconditions include the approval of the 2011 budget, arrears, the public sector wage law and pension reform, which remain on the list of yet unresolved problems that the Government should tackle.
The Government also pledged to the Fund it would continue personnel cutbacks and tax big wealth, while the reduced taxation of labour would only be achievable after the economy has rebounded.
The release of the next tranche from the IMF, originally scheduled for mid-December, has been put off until mid-January 2011, although most criteria set to be met by the end of September were deemed as having been fulfilled.