The International Monetary Fund board has approved the fifth loan installment for Romania on Friday and the EUR 900 million should reach the Romanian Central Bank (BNR) most likely on Monday, July 5, or Tuesday the latest, according to Mediafax newswire.

“The board has unanimously voted for the approval of the fifth loan installment for Romania. It is a strong confidence signal, supporting the reforms in Romania and trust in how things are going. The board has also approved Romania's request for an arrears waiver,” said Mihai Tanasescu, Romania's representative with the IMF.

The money will this time go to the BNR to cover the balance of payments deficit, which is where the IMF funds usually go. Previous installments have also been used to cover the state budget deficit.

Romania has signed an external financing agreement with the IMF, the European union and other international financial institutions, totaling EUR 20 billion. So far, out of the EUR 13 billion from the IMF, Romania has received EUR 9.2 billion. Of this amount, EUR 2.2 billion was used to cover the budget deficit, and the rest went to the Romanian Central Bank.

An IMF mission will be in Romania on July 20 to evaluate the country's economic evolution for the first half of the year and to analyze the newer prognosis for this year and the following years.

Corina Saceanu