Romania will try to renegotiate with the International Monetary Fund new deadlines to liberalise its energy market as part of a wider aid deal, President Traian Basescu said on Sunday. Under its 5 billion-euro IMF-led aid deal, the centrist coalition government had pledged to free up its gas and electricity markets in stages by 2015.
An IMF mission is in Bucharest until February 6 to review Romania's progress in meeting the terms of its aid deal. Foreign investors and the European Commission - which requires member states to align their energy prices to EU levels over a number of years - have repeatedly criticised Romania's energy price caps for hurting competition.
The government had aimed to eliminate power and gas tariffs for industry by 2013 and for households between 2013 and 2015. "The prime minister and I have agreed we will have to renegotiate the planned liberalisation both for economic agents and for households," Basescu told a news conference.
"Based on Romania's pay power ... we will have to try to reprogramme liberalisation of gas tariffs for households to 2020, and as a result, for industry from 2015-2017. We will see if we can get it."
Basescu also said the Romanian economy is expected to grow 1.5 percent this year, less than a previous forecast, held back by a potential recession in the euro zone, the country's main trade and banking partner.
Romania is expected to have grown 2.5 percent last year, outpacing expectations. The government forecast 2012 growth in a range of 1.7 to 2.7 percent.
"Economic growth assessments for 2012 are around 1.5 percent, taking into consideration the possibility of a recession in the euro zone," Basescu told a news conference.