The International Monetary Fund's Executive board has recently approved the second review of the precautionary agreement and will provide for Romania the third tranche of EUR 480 million. The first tranche was of EUR 67 million, while the second amounted to around EUR 475 million.

In March 2011 the Romanian authorities decided to extend the agreement with the IMF through a precautionary agreement worth EUR 3.6 billion. The new agreement with IMF is accompanied by a EUR 1.4 billion preventive support from the European Union and a loan of EUR 400 million from the World Bank.

Jeffrey Franks, the head of the IMF delegation in Bucharest, has recently said that the International Monetary Fund will review the forecast on Romania’s economic growth down to 2 percent from a previous estimate of 3.5 to 4 percent due to the amplified external risks of contagion.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sxc.hu)