June 30 (SeeNews) - Romania's finance minister Florin Citu said that the country does not need to take out a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this year and will tap the financial markets instead.
Romania is a trustworthy partner for private investors, Citu said in a talk-show aired by local TV station Digi 24 on Monday evening.
"We will not need the IMF. In 2020 we are the only non-euro area country with a deficit as high as 7%, which is not in need of funds from a financial institution such as the IMF," Citu said said in a televised talk-show broadcast on local TV station Digi 24 on Monday evening.
"We will get the money from the financial markets. We have the trust of private financiers."
Citu noted that Romania has had its most successful bond issue in times of crisis, and that it is currently borrowing funds for long periods of time.
Last month, Romania raised 3.3 billion euro ($3.62 billion) through the sale of 5-year and 10-year Eurobonds, with total demand from investors reaching 12 billion euro.
The ministry is also looking to raise funds on the domestic market, by issuing bonds for households, Citu added.
On Tuesday, the finance ministry said it is offering four issues of fixed-rate government securities to individual investors without setting a target for the amount it wants to raise in the four-week subscription period starting on July 1.
Currently, Romania has no funding arrangement with the IMF. The country had a 2 billion euro two-year precautionary stand-by arrangement with the IMF which expired in September 2015 without the country withdrawing money.
Romania's consolidated budget was in deficit equivalent to 3.59% of the projected 2020 gross domestic product (GDP) in the first five months of the year, compared to a gap of 1.4% of GDP in the like period of 2019, the finance ministry said on Friday. Almost half of the deficit was due to extra government spending needed to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, it added.
($=0.8928 euro)