IMF and European Commission experts will be in Bucharest between December 2-10

A joint mission of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Commission (EC) experts will be in Bucharest between December 2 - 10 to discuss with the Romanian authorities the 2015 Budget Bill, informs a Wednesday release of the Ministry Public Finance.

2014-11-21 14:33:08

The mission will be headed by chief negotiator for Romania Andrea Schaechter on behalf of the IMF, and by Istvan Szekely, Director with the European Commission′s DG ECFIN, on behalf of the EC.

"The mission is dedicated strictly to the budget bill, this is not a mission for the review of Romanian commitments towards the IMF under the precautionary agreement signed with the representatives of foreign lenders. Subsequently to the talks with the representatives of the international financial institutions, the bill on next year′s budget will be subjected to public debate and referred to the Government for approval," reads the release.

President in function Traian Basescu called on the Government to table the draft budget for 2015 as soon as possible, stressing that this is a major priority.

"I am calling on the Government - the Prime Minister is out of Bucharest, but this is not an excuse - the ministries, together with the Finance Minister can prepare and give to publicity the draft budget," the head of state said at the Cotroceni Palace.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Tuesday asked the members of the Cabinet to prepare the draft budget for 2015 until the arrival in Romania of the delegation of the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).

"I want us to keep doing our job as long as we have the support of Parliament, we are expected to accomplish what is stated in the job description. My request to you is that, until the arrival of the EC, IMF and WB delegation, you prepare the 2015 budget. So, every Minister talks to the Finance officials and then, for special measures, we take the political decision within the coalition and the Government," was the Premier′s message at the Government sitting.