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Peter Harrold, WB: Romania is to sign two-year programme with IMF and WB

The support programme that Romania will sign with the large international financiers, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), as well as with the European Commission will probably be a two-year-long programme, Country Director for Romania with the World Bank Peter Harrold said on Tuesday.

The financial institutions' and the European Commission's opinion is that it would be useful for the next agreement to be signed on a two-year period, because getting over the electoral year 2012 would give confidence to international financial markets, Peter Harrold said.

The World Bank's Country Director for Romania pointed out that the new agreement signed with the WB would aim at social assistance, health care and fiscal reform.Also, the future agreement will approach the issue of the state companies that need to become profitable, the decision to privatize them or not being a political one.

In Peter Harrold's opinion, the fact that in Romania there are 300 fiscal administrations compared with six administrations in other countries the same size, that taxes cannot be paid electronically, as well as the fact the taxes must be frequently collected leads to problems for companies and citizens.

The fiscal collection could improve 20 percent in three or four years if the fiscal system was simplified, said Peter Harrold.The current development policy loan (DPL) of the World Bank for Romania is worth one billion euros. The last agreement will be included in the future programme signed with the World Bank, Peter Harrold mentioned.

The Board of the World Bank will discuss the second DPL on Thursday and Peter Harrold voiced conviction the loan would be approved,Agerpres informs.

In May 2009, Romania and the IMF signed a EUR13 billion two-year standby loan, part of a larger EUR20 billion package that includes funds from the World Bank, the EU and other foreign lenders.

The Romanian authorities said recently the country would enter a follow-up agreement once the existing one expires in the coming months. The new arrangement is likely to take the shape of a precautionary deal.According to Harrold, Romania's new deal with the World Bank will have similar terms as the first one, which amounted to EUR1 billion.

So far, the World Bank has disbursed EUR600 million to Romania, while the last installment, worth EUR400 million, will be included in the new agreement.

Romanian Govt Chooses Optimization Over Privatization

The Romanian government prefers to boost efficiency in the companies it owns, not privatize them, a World Bank official said Tuesday.Peter Harrold, Country Director for Central Europe and the Baltic Countries at the World Bank, said the local government shows little appetite for privatization at the moment, and it seeks to improve performance in state-owned energy and transport companies.

Furthermore, according to Harrold, authorities should focus on improving the decision-making process and reshuffle management councils, rendering them more 'balanced'.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: would agreement world programme harrold romania peter