Romania to cut 54,000 public sector jobs

BUCHAREST: Romania is to cut 54,000 jobs in the public sector in a move to curb its public deficit, the centre-right government announced on Thursday.

"53,432 jobs will have to be cut in local administrations", Interior Minister Vasile Blaga said after a cabinet meeting.

"We set up the legal frame of restructuring in the public sector. New job cuts could follow as a consequence of this process", the government spokeswoman Ioana Muntean told AFP.

The move is part of the government's measures to keep the public deficit near the target of 6.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) stipulated in an agreement with the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) and the European Union.

It comes on top of a 25-percent slash of salaries in the public sector and a raise of the value-added tax to 24 percent from 19 percent decided in the last weeks.

The IMF board will meet on Friday to decide on a new tranche of the 20-billion-euro loan package it extended to Romania, together with the EU and the World Bank, in order to fight the economic crisis.