Romania's stand-by agreement with the IMF, scheduled for last reviews in IMF board this week

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board will analyze today (June 26) whether Romania has complied with the preconditions to successfully end the existing financial agreement. According to the board’s calendar, the seventh and eighth reviews under the Standby Arrangement with Romania are scheduled for today (June 26). The five targets set by IMF were the privatization of Transgaz and CFR Marfa, choosing a consultant for the sale of 15 percent in Complexul Energetic Oltenia, a drop in local and central Government arrears and private management in state companies. The first was the privatization of 15 percent in Transgaz, which happened in April, while the second, choosing a consultant for the sale of 15 percent in Complexul Energetic Oltenia, was done in May. Grup Feroviar Roman, GFR, was recently declared winner in CFR Marfa’s privatization process, offering to pay EUR 201 million for a 51 percent stake in the railway freight transport company. The winner also promised to make some EUR 204 million further investments in the company. In early June this year, the Finance Minister Daniel Chitoiu said that, by mid-June, the arrears will also get close to meeting the targets set with the IMF. The current EUR 3.6 billion Standby Arrangement between Romania and the IMF began in March 2011. So far, Romania has used the funds available as a precautionary credit line and has not drawn on them. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund IMF Christine Lagardeshould visit Romania next month, said Gerry Rice, IMF’s Communications Director, during a recent press conference. During the visit, the managing director of the IMF will meet the country’s president Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The previous IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn came to Romania in 2010, and this will be Lagarde’s first visit to Romania after taking the helm of the IMF. Lagarde, 57, took office in 2011, after having been Minister of Finance in France for four years. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com