According to the latest letter of intent made public by the IMF in early October, the budget deficit target for late September the Romanian officials and the Fund’s delegates jointly agreed upon was 6.4 billion Euros, the budget deficit standing at 5.4% of the GDP. In the wake of the IMF’s evaluation mission in late August, for the end of 2009, Romanian officials and the IMF experts agreed upon a new budget deficit target, accounting for 7.3% of the GDP, and related to an 8.5% economic contraction for 2009 and the GDP standing at about 120 billion Euros. Last year, Romania’s GDP stood at more than 137 billion Euros.

In another development, data provided by the Central Bank reveal that the share of the arrears for the loans given to the Romanian population has tripled over the last year to 3.25% (1.55 Billion Euros) after arrears for hard currency credits soared 4.5 times, while domestic currency arrears went up 2.5 times for the October 2008 – September 2009 period. Official data also reveal that the population’s and the companies’ arrears from Transylvanian counties (Central Romania) are the highest across the country.

We should also add that according to an index compiled by the Legatum Institute, an independent world development consultancy and research institution, Romania ranks 48th in terms of population prosperity. The survey has placed Finland on top position, out of a pool of 104 countries world wide, Romania being outclassed by most of the European countries.