Romania's governing coalition seeks IMF permission for public sector pay rises

The governing coalition in Romania has mandated Prime Minister Emil Boc (in picture) to negotiate an increase in salaries and pensions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which currently has a team in Romania to review the existing loan agreement with the country. Money for the proposed salary and pensions increases will come from the state budget, according to the Democrat Liberal Party, led by Emil Boc. The Government cut public sector salaries and pensions in 2011, but protests over the decreasing revenues and the effects of the austerity measures in the country started only at the beginning of 2012. Disgruntled Romanians have continued protests in the capital city Bucharest for the last two weeks, despite the bad weather that has hit the country. Commentators might argue that the governing coalition hopes to improve the mood among protesters by announcing a raise, or shift public anger to the IMF, if public sector pay rises are not approved by the fund. Prime Minister Emil Boc has been busy in the last couple of days supervising the measures taken to alleviate roads across Romania hit by blizzards. He checked work on the Bucharest bypass late at night, served hot tea to people who refused to leave their cars in the snow and took a helicopter to see what road areas near Bucharest needed more work. We wrote about the protests here. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Gov.ro)