FinMin Citu: We have a buffer for at least 5 months; salary on time for administrative apparatus

The Ministry of Finance has a financial reserve that will be enough for another 4 - 5 months, or even more, and the Government hasn't discussed the possibility of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund yet, the Minister of Public Finance, Florin Citu, told Digi 24 private television broadcaster.

"At this point, we are not discussing something like this [an agreement with the IMF - editor's note]. We have that buffer that we haven't touch yet, which is why we continue to go to the market for money, which is precisely what we have done today and what we do in general, when we see that the conditions on the market are good, to make these payments. We keep the buffer for more difficult moments, and the agreements with the international institutions will be the first to be taken into account if we reach that point. The buffer will be enough for 4-5 months, even more, but I cannot give you exact figures, because of the ongoing negotiations with the markets," said Citu.

The Minister also said the administrative apparatus is battling the current crisis on the front line and that the members of the administrative apparatus shouldn't worry about their salaries.

"Every day we are facing a new challenge and the highest challenge for the Ministry of Public Finance is not to grow the expenditures, because this is easy and everybody can do it. The more difficult task is to finance these expenditures, but there will not be any problems with the payment of salaries and pensions, the furlough and other invoices of the MFP on time. (...) Also important is for the medical staff to know, for the policemen to know, and for all those in the administrative apparatus, all those who are on the front line today, to know that their salaries will come on time, not to worry that they will also have to deal with this problem. And the administrative apparatus is on the front line. Because today we are fighting with the administrative apparatus, which of course that is not the most efficient, but we are working with it, the entire administrative apparatus is the fighting the crisis on the front line," said Florin Citu.