Radio România Internațional

Tag: IMF mission to Romania

  • The IMF mission to Romania

    The IMF mission to Romania

    An IMF delegation came to Bucharest earlier this March to conduct its annual assessment of Romanian economy. IMF experts expect an economic growth rate of 4.2% this year and 3.6% in 2017, against the backdrop of fiscal relaxation and income-boosting measures, stimulating consumption.



    The head of the delegation, Reza Baqir, warned that tax cuts implemented under the new Fiscal Code were procyclical, thus putting Romania’s ability to react to future economic slumps at risk. The IMF recommends that Romania postpone fiscal relaxation measures scheduled for 2017, so as to reduce the budget deficit to 2% of the GDP. Additionally, Fund experts called on the authorities to postpone the future cut in VAT from 20% to 19%, as well as all the other facilities laid down in the Fiscal Code, which would result in savings worth 0.75% of the GDP.



    On the other hand, the IMF wants to see more progress regarding spending and fiscal administration. The IMF experts also referred to the dangers of excessively increasing the minimum wage, which might determine employers to operate layoffs or to resort to informal payment methods. The IMF also pointed to the negative impact of the repossession law on the financial sector.



    IMF chief for Romania Reza Baqir said that any support measure should be addressed to those who really need it. Romania should not waste resources helping those who took out loans for profit or investment purposes or those who still afford to pay their loans, the IMF official added. Reza Baqir insisted that the repossession law should not be applied retroactively, for existing contracts, which would seriously affect the wide perception of property law and the business environment.



    The repossession law allows people to trade in their houses in exchange for having their bank debts written off. As regards structural reforms, the IMF recommended the swift adoption of all provisions related to improving corporate governance in all state-owned enterprises and setting up a priority list for companies to be listed on the stock market or passed into private hands.



    Those reforms would help improve professional management in state-owned enterprises, would trigger a more effective distribution of resources and increase profitability. Additionally this line of reforms would help the state save money and curb its debts. The Fund also recommends that the authorities continue the fight against corruption, which would combat tax evasion, improve the business sector and attract more foreign investors.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • February 28, 2016 UPDATE

    February 28, 2016 UPDATE

    The European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová, is paying a visit to Bucharest on Monday. She will meet with the Romanian PM Dacian Cioloş, the justice minister, Raluca Prună, the labour minister Claudia-Ana Costea as well as with members of the Romanian Parliament. Talks will focus on several topics such as the progress Romania has made in reforming the judiciary, the contribution of the judiciary to the European Commission priorities such as the Single Digital Market and the European Agenda on Security. The European Commissioner will also participate in a round table discussion with NGOs active in the field of policies foe the integration of Roma citizens, in order to discuss Romania’s experience regarding the implementation of the national strategy for the integration of the Roma population.



    An IMF mission is expected in Bucharest between March 2nd and 15th, for the annual assessment of the Romanian economy. The mission, led by the new head of the IMF mission for Romania, Reza Baqir, will meet with Romanian high officials, with representatives of the political parties, of trade unions, business associations, academic environment and the banking system. The assessment of the economy, is, according to Article IV of the IMF Statute, a compulsory monitoring exercise for all member states. At present, Romania has no running agreement with the IMF.



    The former deputy governor of the National Bank of Romania, Cristian Popa, was appointed Vice- President of the European Investment Bank. He will take office on March 1. At the national bank, Cristian Popa coordinated the departments of monetary policy, forecast, European affairs and financial stability. In his new capacity as Vice-President of the EIB he said he was eager to support the financial institution’s involvement in Romania, Europe and at world level.



    The Swiss voters rejected on Sunday, through referendum, the controversial proposal by the right-wing People’s Party to automatically deport foreigners who commit minor crimes. According to exit polls, about 59% of the voters opposed the People’s Party initiative. In 2010 the Swiss backed proposals to deport foreigners convicted of murder or sexual violence. The right-wing People’s Party now wants to strengthen that policy, and according to the new plan, those who commit two minor offences such as speeding or arguing with a police officer, should be deported automatically within 10 years. The critics of the proposal said deportation for minor crimes ran counter to the agreement between Switzerland and the EU regarding the free movement of people. Relations between Switzerland and the EU have soured after the success of the 2014 referendum on limiting immigration.



    The main sides involved in the Syrian conflict accused each other, on Sunday, of infringing the ceasefire agreement, admitting that, the agreement was largely observed starting with the day after it came into force. The agreement, initiated by the US and Russia and supported by the UN Security Council, refers to the theaters of operations between the forces of the al-Assad regime and the Syrian rebels while the Jihadists from the organizations the Islamic State and the Al-Nusra Front (the Syrian wing of the Al-Qaida), which controls more than half of the Syrian territory, are excluded from the agreement. The civil war in Syria started in March 2011 and has so far killed over 270 thousand people. More than half of Syria’s population has left the country, most of the refugees destabilizing the Middle East and Europe.



    The European Commission has criticized Belgium for having reintroduced controls at the border with France, for fear of a new flow of immigrants, after Paris announced they would dismantle the refugee camps in Calais. The EC draws attention to Belgium that these border checks can be introduced for a couple of days alone, and not for one month, as the Belgian government announced. The European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, sent a letter to the Belgian PM, Charles Michel, reminding him that he failed to comply with the procedure and that the motivations of his government are illegal. Avramopoulos warned that, if the situation was not solved, a humanitarian crisis was likely to occur and the Schengen Space would collapse. So far 7 EU countries have reintroduced border checks in order to limit the number of refugees that reach Europe. In 2015 more than one million immigrants reached Europe and more than 100 thousand have entered Greece and Italy since the beginning of 2016. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)

  • June 6, 2014

    June 6, 2014

    ARRESTS– People holding top level managing positions in important state institutions in Romania have been taken into custody by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate for bribe taking and influence peddling. They are brought to court today, the prosecutors calling for their being remanded in custody, pending trial. Two of those arrested are the vice-president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority and a director with ENEL, an important electricity supplier. According to the prosecutors, Enel Muntenia, a company with hundreds of thousands of customers, has allegedly doubled the tax levied for green certificates. By this mechanism, hundreds of thousands of customers have been cheated. The situation has been discovered by the energy regulatory authority, which has proposed a 6% cut in tariffs, as a penalty. The vice-president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority has however intervened in favour of the supplier, getting in exchange a contract in favour of a private company. In another move, one of the richest businesspeople in Romania, Dan Adamescu, is today being brought to court, and is likely to be remanded in custody, pending trial. He is detained in a lawsuit, in which he is accused of giving bribe in exchange for receiving favourable solutions in insolvency files involving some of his companies.



    D-DAY 70th ANNIVERSARY-19 of the most important world leaders, among whom US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Queen Elisabeth II of Great Britain and Russian President Vladimir Putin, are today celebrating, on the French beaches of Normandy, 70 years since the decisive moment of victory over Nazi Germany, in WW II. The ceremonies are however overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis and the tense relations with Russia, following Crimea’s annexation. The Allies’ Landing, also known in history as D-Day, continues to be, to the present day, the largest military operation in history, involving the participation of some 3 million troops, who crossed the Channel from Great Britain to Normandy, in Northern France.



    ECONOMY– A joint mission of the IMF, the European Commission and the World Bank is currently in Bucharest, until June the 16th, on a third assessment of the precautionary stand-by agreement signed with Romania last autumn. Today, representatives of the international lenders are having talks at the Health Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the National Bank of Romania. The talks are mainly aimed at finding solutions to introduce a 5% reduction in employer social security contributions, as of July the 1st. Following this week’s talks with representatives of the international lenders, the Romanian government has approved a series of measures meant to render the railway sector more efficient. These measures are part of Romania’s general transport master plan.



    UKRAINE– An approximately 150-200 km long sector of the border between Ukraine and Russia is currently under the control of pro-Russian militias, the RIA Novosti news agency quotes the so-called Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Luhansk Republic, Vasili Nikitin, as saying. We recall that the Ukrainian government on Thursday decided to close down a sector of its border with Russia, alongside the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, for security reasons, sources with the Ukrainian government have announced. The Ukrainian army is currently carrying out an anti-terrorist operation in the Russian speaking regions in southeastern Ukraine, where it faces a separatist insurgency. The events have taken a dramatic turn in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where scores of dead and wounded among civilians have already been reported.



    TENNIS– Romanian tennis player Simona Halep will go up one position in WTA standings on Monday, being ranked 3rd in the world, irrespective of the result she will have scored in Saturday’s Roland Garros final against Russian Maria Sharapova. Halep has reached the finals of the second largest Grand Slam of the year after defeating German Andrea Petkovic in two sets. It is for the first time that Halep, who has been declared the woman tennis player with the greatest ascension in 2013, qualifies for a Grand Slam final. The last woman tennis player from Romania to play in a Grand Slam final was Virginia Ruzici, back in 1980, also at the Roland Garros, a tournament that she had won years before, in 1978.



    THEATRE– The 21st edition of the International Theatre Festival, the largest event of its kind in Romania, opens its doors in the central Romanian town of Sibiu. For ten days, hundreds of events, put up by 2,500 actors, artists and directors from 70 countries will turn Sibiu into a huge stage. The highlights of the festival will include theatre shows, dance, music, street performances, circus shows, exhibitions, reading sessions and conferences. Theatre critics rank Sibfest the 3rd largest festival of its kind in the world, after those in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Avignon in France.