European Commission: we hope to finish the second evaluation of the Romanian agreement by end of January

The European Commission hopes to finish by the end of January the second evaluation of the financial agreement signed with Romania, which enforces the 1 billion euro installment for Romania, a EC press release reads. This position comes after a common EC and IMF delegation came in Bucharest on December 14-16 to continue talks regarding the multilateral assistance program.

The mission acknowledged real progresses in terms of accomplishing the budgetary deficit set of 7.3% of GDP in 2009. However, a strict control of budget spending is necessary, the press release reads.

For 2010 EC and IMF representatives, together with Romanian authorities convened a set of measures for fiscal consolidation. Considering the macro-economic estimates for 2010, they are better than the initial forecasts. The new government will be encouraged to approve the budget and send it to the Parliament for validation.