Jeffrey Franks, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation in Bucharest has recently said that the inflation in Romania fell more than expected and this was the best sign for the Romanian economy recovery.

“For 2011 we have a similar vision  to the Governments, the figures have been discussed with the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance, and the indicators are relatively good in the third quarter, mainly due to  the crops. Our forecast shows an increase of 1.5 percent in 2011,” said Jeffrey Franks during a meeting with the Romanian President Traian Basescu.

The IMF official recently said that the Romanian state companies are like a “huge ball of lead” that are pulling the country’s economy down, and the progress made by the Romanian authorities is not sufficient.

A joint team formed of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission (EC) and the World Bank representatives are in Bucharest between October 25 and November 7 for the third evaluation of the country’s new stand-by agreement.

According to the Romanian National Statistics Institute the food products in Romania were 1.72 percent more expensive in September, while non-food products grew in price by 4.84 percent. The month-on-month consumer prices went down by 0.21 percent, as food was 1.18 percent cheaper and non-food products were 0.24 percent more expensive, according to statistics. The annual inflation rate was of 4.25 percent in August.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Photoxpress)