* Cristian Sima: "I think the budget deficit is far higher than the one posted by the authorities"
* The scenario of a manipulation similar to that of Greece, unlikely
* The IMF has been monitoring us carefully
* Exporters want an exchange rate of 4.1-4.3 lei/Euro
* Liviu Voinea: "It is not the current depreciation that is unnatural, the appreciation of the leu in the beginning of the year was"
Market sources say it is likely the leu is being kept artificially stable, sources in the market claim, who say that it is possible the Ministry of Public finance has cooked the books when it comes to reporting the budget deficit. Even though forging its economic statistics wouldn"t be a first for a country, the situation is however, unlikely, considering the strictness of the IMF when it comes to the macroeconomic targets it has agreed with the Romanian government for the installments of the loan taken under the Stand-By agreement.
Gheorghe Gherghina, secretary of state in the Ministry of Finance, could not be contacted to comment on the rumors.
The team of IMF experts will arrive in Bucharest again on April 26th.
Cristian Sima, head of brokerage firm WBS Romania, said it was very likely that the data is forged: "I think the budget deficit is far greater than the one published by the authorities". He expects the exchange rate to rise to a maximum of 4.2 lei/Euro, after which "most likely, the NBR will intervene in the market".
The official exchange rate of the NBR rose to a 3-month high on Friday (4.1429 lei/Euro), after dropping to 4.07 lei/Euro in mid March. This is the highest exchange rate since January 21st, when the Euro was quoted at 4.1397 lei.
According to data published by the authorities, the general budget recorded a deficit in February, after posting a slight surplus in January, and the budget gap reach