The IMF OKs new EUR 3.5 bln precautionary stand-by agreement for Romania

Newsroom 28/03/2011 | 15:29

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a new one year precautionary stand-by arrangement (SBA) for Romania of about EUR 3.5 billion, coming into effect at the end of this month. The Romanian authorities have informed the IMF that they intend to treat the new arrangement as precautionary and therefore do not plan to draw under it. The SBA will be in conjunction with precautionary support from the European Union of EUR 1.4 billion and a loan from the World Bank of EUR 0.4 billion.

The executive board has also completed the seventh and final review of Romania’s economic performance under an SDR of about EUR 12.95 billion 24-month SBA that was approved on May 4, 2009 and will end effective March 30, 2011 at the authorities’ request. The completion of the final review enables the immediate disbursement of SDR EUR 1 billion. The authorities have informed the IMF that they also intend to treat this final disbursement as precautionary.