Stiri	Stiri afaceri	Stiri companii	Evenimente de afaceri

Romanian authorities, IMF to discuss this Sept. whether to keep economic growth targets

The Romanian authorities and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Commission (EC) representatives will meet at the end of September to decide whether to maintain the economic growth targets of 1.5 pct for 2011 and 3.5 - 4 pct for 2012, respectively, Minister of Public Finance Gheorghe Ialomitianu told a press conference on Thursday.

'We have a meeting scheduled with IMF and EC representatives at the end of September, before we finalize the state budget blueprint and the other draft budgets, and we will consider then the economic growth targets and the companies that will be reclassified,' said Ialomitianu.

'We are currently maintaining our economic growth forecast of 1.5 pct for this year and 3.5 - 4 pct for 2012. The 2012 budget deficit stays 3 pct and is nailed down,' added the MFP official, quoted by Agerpres..

According to Bloomberg, Romania may be short of funds to cover a four-month financing buffer requested by the International Monetary Fund if Europe's sovereign-debt crisis pushes up yields, Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu said.The Balkan nation will probably have to pay more to finance its budget deficit 'if the markets don't calm,' Ialomitianu said at a conference in Bucharest.

'We have a buffer, I don't know if it covers financing for four months, but we can face difficult situations,' Ialomitianu said. 'We are still in a position that allows us to reject the offers which we consider to be priced too high.'

The Finance Ministry sold 2.6 billion lei ($877 million) of leu-denominated bills and bonds in August, below the 4 billion lei planned, as investors pushed for higher yields amid concern over lower-than-expected global economic growth.

Average yields of one-year leu-denominated bills rose to 6.64 percent from 6.18 percent and three-year bond yields to 7.34 percent from 7.09 percent, according to central bank data.

The government, which seeks to avoid drawing on a precautionary loan from the IMF and the European Union, has cut wages and the workforce in the public sector. It aims to bring the budget deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product next year, from an estimated 4.4 percent this year.

The plan is to borrow 4.7 billion lei in bills and bonds on the domestic market this month and international markets may be tapped for the second time this year as part of a 7 billion-euro ($10 billion) medium-term notes program that runs until 2013.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: billion percent economic ialomitianu growth targets euro mfp

Articole similare