“We no longer need a more or less demanding teacher. I think a new accord with the IMF can be extended. That has not been negotiated.”

The governor of the Central Bank went on to say that Romania’s chance to have economic growth in the next period was the in flow of European funds. He said that Romania’s return to the markets was not an option, but a necessity. Isarescu added that long term funding should not be provided by financial institutions, but by capital markets. On the other hand, Romania was the only EU country to have cut public sector employees’ wages by 25%, but that happened because according to Isarescu, no other EU member country registered a 120% increase of public spending on the staff.

In addition to slashing the public sector employees’ wages in the summer of 2010, the Romanian government increased the VAT from 19 to 24% and cut most of the social benefits by 15%, to reduce the budget deficit in keeping with the accords signed with the IMF and the European Commission. Romania’s representative to the IMF, Mihai Tanasescu believes that Bucharest is ready to overcome the financial turbulences in Europe and the world over, but the measures taken so far must be completed by fiscal adjustment and structural reforms. According to the IMF official, the reforms implemented in Romania have triggered the investors’ growing confidence. Mihai Tanasescu:

“The engines of economic growth this year and probably next year too will further be exports; at the same time, there is probably a great need for the in flow of European funds. I think that is the most important source of growth in the next few years. The better the administration gets ready, both the local and the central administration to attract those funds, the faster Romania can move forward with a very solid growth.”

In March 2011, Romania concluded precautionary accords with the IMF, the EU and the World Bank, standing at 5.4 billion Euros.