Romania will ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new loan agreement this year, and the negotiations will focus on implementing structural reforms and not on the budget deficit, Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici said on September 29.

“We will certainly ask the IMF this year to start the negotiations for a new agreement. A deal with the IMF can take place without the participation of the European Commission, as these are different agreements,” Teodorovici added, reports local Mediafax.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta also said that it would be good for Romania to have a new agreement with the IMF, but this needed to be discussed first within the ruling coalition, and only afterwards with the opposition and the president. However, this should be a political decision of all political forces, he added.

Liviu Dragnea, the acting president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) said the Government should come up with a serious analysis about the need of a new IMF agreement, and present it to the political parties and the President.

Romania has had a series of loan agreements with the IMF and the European Commission since 2009, the last of which ended this month.

editor@romania-insider.com