PSAL II second tranche, delayed

Romania will not receive this autumn the second tranche of the PSAL II programme, worth 169.9 million euros, agreed upon with the World Bank, because of delays in honouring certain commitments. “There are several actions we have to accomplish. The programme will probably be finalised sometime early next year,” stated Andrew Vorkink, former World Bank director for Central and Southern Europe. The release of the second tranche is also conditioned on the existence of an ongoing agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Vorkink also said that the programme was going in the right direction despite some delays. The privatisation of Petrom has reached the letter of intent submission phase, while other privatisation processes, such as privatisation in the domain of natural gas distribution or that of Banca Comerciala Romana, are going ahead. As regards the transfer into private ownership of Tarom airline, Vorkink said that the strategy settled within the PSAL II programme had been modified due to international circumstances. ZF