President: unjustified public expenses might trigger need for new country loan

Romania might need a second loan after the stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the end of this year, according to Romanian president Traian Basescu, due mainly to the bonuses awarded to employees in the state system.

“The financial resources are affecting the army as they are affecting all institutions. I don’t blame this strictly on the crisis: for several years we have been blind to believe we could consume more than we produced. The army needs to understand that we can’t live on borrowed money,” said Basescu, following a review by the Ministry of National Defense. “Let’s imagine the government not being able to impose reasonable expenses for the state to work, which includes expenses with invented bonuses and other such expenses. The effect would be the need for a new loan at the end of 2010, so that we could pay all these unjustified bonuses – for smiling, decent clothing and so on,” said Basescu. “We can’t get used to the idea of getting more loans for 2011 and 2012 because we would sacrifice Romania’s development.”

Corina Saceanu