Press Release No. 13/86

Press Release: IMF Approves Three-Month Extension of SBA for Romania

March 20, 2013

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved on March 15, 2013—on a lapse-of-time basis¹—a three-month extension of Romania’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) to June 30, 2013.

The SBA had been scheduled to expire on March 30, 2012. The extension, which was requested by the Romanian authorities, will provide them with time to implement the measures needed to complete the combined seventh and eight reviews under the SBA. The extension will, in particular, offer an opportunity to reduce arrears of the central and local governments and to take measures to improve the governance of state-owned enterprises.

The SBA was approved on March 25, 2011 (Press Release No. 11/101) in the amount of SDR 3,090.6 million (about €3.5 billion, 300 percent of quota). The IMF's Executive Board has completed six reviews, most recently in September 2012 (Press Release 12/372). The Romanian authorities are treating the SBA as precautionary, thus they do not intend to draw on the available resources.

For information on Romania’s precautionary Stand-By Arrangement, please see:

Romania and the IMF: http://www.imf.org/external/country/ROU/index.htm

Key documents are also available in Romanian: http://www.fmi.ro

________________________________________

1 The Executive Board takes decisions under its lapse-of-time procedure when it is agreed by the Board that a proposal can be considered without convening formal discussions.