Romanian Central Bank Governor Isarescu: we do not rule out loan from IMF

Romania’s Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu considers that a loan from the International Monetary Fund can be useful for Romania. He added that the central bank takes into account a package that contains loans from European institutions as well.

On Wednesday, the governor presented a statistical analysis set up by the bank regarding macroeconomic evolutions.

He said that the governmental sector had the capacity to support itself financially in 2009, but that a lack of funding was shaping in the nongovernmental sector.

He said that the foreign debt of the governmental sector stood at 10.7 billion euro on December 31, 2008. The need of funding may reach 2, 3 or 4 billion euro, according to what decision the government makes, to the budget to be approved by the Parliament and to the budget deficit.

The nongovernmental foreign debt amounts to 39.7 billion euro, he said.

One term that the IMF may claim should Romania ask for a loan would be a freeze of salaries in the public sector, Eugen Radulescu, a Central Bank director, said.