IMF worried about Romania’s external vulnerability

The International Monetary Fund is to present a report that warns about the external vulnerability of Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, at the G7 reunion of the finance ministers in Singapore next week, according to the Financial Times.

This situation draws on the fast growing of the private loans in Romania and Bulgaria, which has yielded a serious deficit account and high external debts, and on a lack of financial discipline in Hungary.

IMF estimates that Romania’s account deficit will reach 10.9% of the GDP in 2006, while Bulgaria’s will be 12.4% and Hungary’s 9.1% of the GDP. According to the National Bank of Romania, the country’s account deficit will be up 35.1% compared to the previous year and will top 6.8 billion Euros.

The Romanian authorities forecast that the deficit will reach 9% of the GDP in 2006.