Romania to receive within short first 3 bln euro instalment under SURE financial support instrument

Romania will receive in the coming days a first instalment of 3 billion euros under the European Commission's SURE loan program, Finance Minister Florin Citu announced on his Facebook page. The total loan requested by the Romanian side is 4.1 billion euros, and the money will be used to finance the deficit caused by measures such as furlough or the flexible work schedule, the FinMin states. "The first instalment of the SURE instrument - 3 billion euros !!! is about to flow in within a few days! Under the SURE instrument, the European Union has granted Romania, as per the request of the Romanian side, a loan of about 4.1 billion euros to support 9 measures adopted by the government of Romania in the context of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The money is used to finance the budget deficit resulting from the increase of budget expenditures with furlough schemes, the flexible work schedule and other similar measures intended to protect employees and/or freelancers, as well as for the alternative financing of specific health-related measures, especially at the workplace," Citu wrote. In terms of costs, the loan is granted under the same financial terms as those under which the Commission has borrowed from the market - zero coupon liabilities. The loan's first instalment matures in 14.5 years' time. The government approved at its October 1 meeting the Memorandum on the conclusion of the Loan Agreement between the European Union and Romania, worth 4.099 billion euros, as part of the European instrument for temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency situation following the Covid-19 outbreak (SURE). The loan was granted at the request of the Romanian side sent to the European Commission based on the Memorandum of August 7, 2020 on the government's agreement in principle for contracting this loan. The Public Finance Ministry mentions that the loan will support the measures adopted by the Romanian government over February - August 2020 in the context generated by the Covid-19 crisis intended to protect employees and freelancers, so as to reduce the incidence of unemployment and loss of income. AGERPRES (RO - author: Andreea Marinescu, editor: Oana Tilica; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)