IMF: Third tranche depends on budget adoption only

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Europe, Marek Belka, said he saw "good prospects" for Romania in the coming quarters and that the approval of the third tranche of the agreement should not be problematic, with the only issue being the approval of the 2010 budget in Parliament, reports Mediafax news agency.

He voiced confidence that Romania would receive the third tranche of the loan after the government approved an austerity budget for 2010.

"Romania is an EU country, with an independent, solid central bank. And I don't see any problems there. I see good prospects for Romania in the coming quarters," Belka said.

An IMF mission will come to Romania in January to evaluate the agreement.

"There should be no problems with the third tranche of the IMF's loan. In January, the IMF will send its mission to Romania and will start to negotiate the completion of the review. The only issue is the parliament's approval of next year's budget, but I can't see any problems here," Belka added.

The Romanian Parliament will meet on January 11th in an extraordinary session to debate the 2010 budget draft. Deputies and senators want it adopted by January 15th.

Romania has agreed on a two-year loan with the IMF, for 12.95 billion euros, with the total financing package, from the Fund, the European Union, the World Bank, and the EBRD to reach 19.95 billion euros.

So far Romania has received the first two tranches of the IMF loan, which amount to a total of 6.9 billion euros. The third tranche, worth 1.5 billion euros, was set to be granted in December 2009, while the fourth one, amounting to around 820 million euros, was set for March of 2010.

An IMF mission was present in Bucharest for technical talks on the 2010 budget, but the completion of the review, which is required before the third tranche can be granted, was put off until January.

The IMF expects and around 7% decline for the Romanian economy in 2009 and a 1.3% GDP growth in 2010.