Bucharest, January 27, 2010 -- From January 20-27, 2010 a World Bank team visited Romania together with the IMF and the European Commission teams, to discuss the performance and prospects of the reform agenda under the multilateral support package for Romania. The Bank’s team, headed by Swati Ghosh, a World Bank Lead Economist, had several meetings with the Romanian authorities and discussed the progress on the economic reform program supported by the World Bank in the context of preparing the second Development Policy Loan (DPL2).
During the talks with the Romanian authorities, the World Bank experts focused on the status of reforms of the public sector, including the implementation of the unitary pay and the pension laws as well as reforms in health, education, social assistance, and in the financial sector.
Significant progress is being made and the World Bank team commends the strong efforts of the Romanian Government towards achieving the agreed reform agenda. Several reform measures supported by the DPL program require legislative action and the World Bank team will return to Bucharest as progress continues.
The Development Policy Loans (DPL) program amounting to Euro 1 billion focuses on public financial management, the social sectors, and the financial sector. The first Development Policy Loan totaling Euro 300 million was approved by the Board of the World Bank on July 16, 2009, signed on September 1, 2009, and disbursed on October 20, 2009. The DPL reform agenda supports policy measures and structural reforms to achieve fiscal sustainability in Romania and uphold the recovery process, and closely complements programs supported by the IMF and the EU.
