WB financing line worth EUR 1 bln, available to the governement

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The credit line worth EUR 1 bln part of the programme agreed last spring with the World Bank (WB) became available only last week, when Bucharest authorities finalised the agreed preconditions, Francois Rantrua, Country Manager for Romania and Hungary announced yesterday in a press conference, quoted by Mediafax. He explained that the credit line included in WB’s participation in the agreement with the IMF has a preventive role, so it will only be accessed in special situations. One of the main conditions of the preventive accord with WB is reorganising the National Agency for Fiscal Administration. The WB Board of Executive Directors approved in June a loan of EUR 1 bln to Romania, for development policies, with the option of delaying the drawing. The loan comes to complete the preventive financial assistance provided by the IMF and EU for 2011-2013. Romanian authorities may choose between partly or integrally using the money, or not using it at all. Romania must continue the reforms, especially in the energy and transport sectors, to be able to sustain the economic growth after the success achieved with curbing the deficit and controlling inflation, Rantrua added.

Lazea, BNR: Investment priorities, a challenge for Romania

One of the medium-term challenges for Romania is to make a clear difference between state and private investments, the chief economist of BNR, Valentin Lazea said during the same event, quoted by capital.ro. “(…) I believe that the private sector should invest in green energies, wind and sun energy. For each sector we must clearly know what investments must be made by the state and what investments must be made by the private sector,” Lazea pointed out. He added that Romania must create more jobs in other sectors than agriculture, with the most important now being the jobs with high productiveness. The chief economist of BNR mentioned that Romania is on a good trend with regard to the Maastricht criteria and the Central Bank has the evolutions related to inflation under control.