In September the actual absorption rate of structural and cohesion funds in Romania grew to 9.7 percent from 9.69  percent in August, and the European Commission (EC) directly reimbursing to Romania was just over EUR 1 million, while the payments were blocked on the five main operational programs.

The payments that the EC was making were interrupted in early July on four of the operational programs - transport, environment, regional and increasing competitiveness, while human resources POSDRU program entered into pre-suspension procedures in early August.

Currently an EC decision on financial corrections for the four programs and the suspension or resumption of payments is expected for October. The resumption of POSDRU payments can only be decided by the EC in December.

Romania managed to access in the first nine months of this year nearly EUR 850 million from structural and cohesion funds. The target early in 2012 was EUR 3.5 billion, with an absorption rate of 20 percent.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)