Jeffrey Franks, IMF says 3 percent drop for Romania is pessimistic

The International Monetary Fund will revise Romania's economic forecast for this year, which currently stands to expect a 0.5 percent GDP drop, according to Jeffrey Franks, the head of the IMF mission to Romania. However, he has labeled the 3 percent drop forecast put forward by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as 'pessimistic'. (Jeffrey Franks, in picture, left; right: Romanian president Traian Basescu) An IMF delegation is in Bucharest for the fifth review of the stand-by agreement with the country. The joint IMF and EC mission will analyses the budget review for 2010, discuss about the 2011 budget and overview the fiscal and monetary policies in place, according to Mihai Tanasescu, Romania’s representative with the IMF. This review mission was preceded by a technical assistance mission, which came to Bucharest on July 14 and which is due to leave on July 28. The team came from IMF’s fiscal department to support the Romanian Fiscal Authorities (ANAF) in improving tax collection. The IMF team was headed by Thomas Martin Story. A similar team came to Bucharest last year. The financial aid package for Romania was of EUR 20 billion, which came from the IMF, the EC, the World Bank and other international financial groups. So far, Romania got EUR 10.7 billion from the IMF, EUR 2.5 bilion from the EC and EUR 300 million from the World Bank. UPDATE: Jeffrey Franks has said the halt of talks between the IMF and a country, which was the case in Hungary recently, is not a threat for Romania.