December 2 (SeeNews) - The European Commission (EC) said on Thursday it has disbursed 1.8 billion euro ($2.04 billion) to Romania in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's grant allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
The pre-financing payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the investment and reform measures outlined in Romania's recovery and resilience plan, the Commission said in a press release.
"European funds will help modernise the health system and strengthen public administration in Romania. We will stand with Romania every step of the way to ensure that its people fully benefit from the plan," EC president Ursula von der Leyen said.
By the end of the year, the Commission intends to raise up to a total of 80 billion euro in long-term funding, complemented by short-term EU-Bills, to fund the first planned disbursements to member states under NextGenerationEU.
The country is set to receive 29.2 billion euro in total, consisting of 14.2 billion euro in grants and 14.9 billion euro in loans, over the lifetime of its plan.
The RRF is at the core of NextGenerationEU which will provide 800 billion euro to support investments and reforms across member states.
The Romanian plan is part of the unprecedented EU response to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis, fostering the green and digital transitions and strengthening resilience and cohesion in our societies, the EC added.
On November 26, Romania's finance ministry signed an agreement to receive the first loan under the RRF, in the amount of 15 billion euro. The proceeds of the loan will be used to finance the state budget deficit and refinance government debt, based on budget expenditures made for reforms included in Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the finance ministry said at the time.
($=0.8828 euro)