Romania doesn’t intend to conclude the agreement with the International Monetary Fund IMF ahead of schedule, namely before March 2015, according to Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

When asked if he considers concluding the agreement with the IMF ahead of schedule, and whether he plans to increase the budget deficit at the next rectification, the PM said: “No. Similarly, at the question about the deficit, no! Besides the 0.2% we asked for military expenditure, expenses for the Ministry of National Defense. So, besides the 0.2%, no, we don’t even need to. Our current problem is that we haven’t really spent the money,” reports local Mediafax.

Representatives of the Romanian Government and the National Bank will go to Brussels this week for the next assessment of the stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission and World Bank. It’s for the first time that the talks take place outside the country and without the President, local political parties or unions to attend these talks.

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