Romania Postpones New Deal With IMF

A team led by the International Monetary Fund will resume discussions in April with the Romanian government over a new standby agreement because they have failed so far to agree on several issues, the centre-left Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced on Monday.

"A new mission will come to Bucharest in April for further discussions as there were some disagreements between us over gas price hikes and restructuring state-run coal companies," Ponta said.

He added that during the latest round of talks, the IMF called for Romania asked for a hike in regulated gas prices for households and thermal energy producers to 62 lei (14 euro) per megawatt from 53.3 lei by April.

"The government considers the increase as being unsustainable," Ponta said.

International lenders also asked for a "massive and radical" restructuring of the two main state-run coal firms, he said.

While the Romanian government agreed on taking measures to make the companies more effective, it "is not accepting measures that will lead to the disappearance of the coal sector which is essential for the safety of Romania's energy system and for the development of some regions," he added.

As a result, while the current stand-by agreement between Romania and the IMF remains valid, the two sides failed to sign a letter of intent, without which Romania cannot draw on the IMF's funds in an emergency.

An IMF mission on Tuesday ends its third review of a two-year precautionary standby deal worth about two billion euro, which was approved in September 2013 and expires in September. The mission also includes representatives of the European Commission and the World Bank.

The 2013 loan was the third accord signed with international lenders since 2009, when Romania...