Isărescu describes Romania's situation looking back at 1991

Governor Mugur Isărescu opened the seminar organised on Saturday to celebrate the 130 years since the setting up of the National Bank of Romania by telling a short story about the financial and political situation of the country back in 1991 when he was at the beginning of his first term, which however, sounded strikingly topical.

Isărescu recounted how he had answered at the time, when Romania was also assisted by the International Monetary Fund and Petre Roman's government had just been dismissed, a question asked by Michel Camdessus, the then managing director of the Fund, on how the loan arrangement was going. "The programme is on track, but the country is off track," Isărescu recalled his answer almost 20 years ago, sparking laughter that for a brief moment broke the sober mood in the hall filled to the brim with representatives of financial institutions, heads of central banks and heads of local commercial banks.

His remark comes after the end of last week saw six of the 15 government ministers replaced, with the opposition preparing a new motion to censure.