The International Monetary Fund said on Friday that it would delay the next instalment of a loan to Romania until a new government is formed, dealing a new blow to the heavily recession-hit economy.
"The IMF, the EU and the World Bank have completed their mission without making a report, putting the continuation of an evaluation as a condition the establishment of a government," Romanian President Traian Basescu said.
Romania is expecting to draw a 1.5-billion-euro (2.24-billion-dollar) instalment of its 20-billion-euro loan in December. The loan was agreed earlier this year as Romania's finances plunged into a steep economic crisis.
Nicolae Chidesciuc, chief economist at Dutch bank ING's Romania branch, said: "This is going in the right direction... Today, the Fund is putting a little more pressure. This is positive because reforms need to be implemented."
The political crisis in this ex-communist European Union member has dragged on for more than a month. In a bid to resolve the row, Basescu on Friday named Liviu Negoita, a member of the Liberal Democrat party (PDL), as prime minister.
On Wednesday, the opposition-dominated parliament refused to back a proposed cabinet led by economist Lucian Croitoru, named earlier as prime minister.
The country has been in political turmoil since October 1, when the Social Democrats left a coalition they had formed with the Liberal Democrats.
