Financial Times: Romania vs. Hungary and their relation with the IMF – who negotiates best? 

The arrival of the IMF mission in Bucharest a week after it left Hungary is marked by a certain irony, Financial Times reads in an article published on Monday, July 26 that analyzes the relation Romania has with the IMF in comparison with Hungary.

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban declared that IMF should modify the conditions offered or give up the agreement, FT reads. Financial markets will decide whether the pudel or the pugilist style represents a better strategy, FT notes.

Romania made one step ahead, assumed some fiscal measures that Hungary does not want to implement the article reads. With a budgetary deficit of 9% in 2010, the government and the IMF agreed on an austerity pack of measures, which included a VAT increase by five percentage points.

The Capital Economics analysis, quoted by the financial daily reads that these measures are not enough to reach the 6.8% target set by the IMF. The only advantage seems to be that authorities are set to respect the austerity measures.