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Romania has to get debts of 716 million dollars and 1.5 billion transferable roubles
Romania’s debts coming from export, international economic cooperation and other
foreign actions organized before 31 December 1989 were, at the end of last year,
716,199,303.61 dollars for the convertible foreign currency and 1,522 billion transferable
roubles.
The sums mentioned are the result of the commercial and governmental agreements for loans on
medium and long-term, signed by the Romanian state with other states, mainly of Africa, Asia and Latin America before 31 December 1989, shows a document of the Ministry of finances.
Out of the total sum of 716,2 million US dollars on the relation of convertible foreign currency, 474.9 million US dollars (66.30%)represent sorted out and regulated debts through signing agreements at governmental level, approved through decisions of the government and which are in different stages of payment (Iraq, the People’s Republic of Congo, the People’s democratic republic of Korea, Guinea, Mozambic) and 241.3 million dollars (33.70%) represents debts which were not sorted out until now ( Sudan, Libya, Nigeria, the Centrafrican Republic, Somalia and Tanzania).
Between January and December 2018 out of Romania’s debts 60 million dollars were collected.
The collection of debts is influenced by the major difficulties of economic order, financial and connected to foreign currency of some African countries, whose debts towards Romania come to 183.2 million US dollars (75.92% of the total of non-regulated debts at present), considered as eligible to get assistance according to the HIPC initiative ( countries with high risk of indebtedness, the poorest in the world): Sudan, the Centrafrican republic, Somalia, Tanzania, as well as the fact that some indebted countries which are already in the HIPC programme for the category of ‘ countries affected by conflict’ and ‘ post conflict countries’ which are to receive supplementary financial support on the part of international bodies:the Centrafrican Republic, Somalia and Sudan.
As for transferable roubles, there is the categorical refusal of the Cuban authorities, country which owns 100% of Romania’s debts in transferable roubles, to agree to negotiations for converting the quota of transferable rouble/US dollars and to establish some ways of reimbursement of the foreign currency duties, the document shows.
The highest sum in foreign currency which Romania has to get from is Iraq, of 561.5 million dollars, followed by Sudan with 169.8 million dollars, Libya with 45,5 million dollars, Nigeria with 12,5 million dollars and other countries with sums between 10 million dollars and under 100,000 dollars. Romania has to receive from the People’s Democratic republic of Korea 546,952 dollars.
In the case of Sudan, Libya, Nigeria, the Centrafrican Republic, Somalia and Tanzania, the debts were not negotiated, the sum being 241 million dollars.
Between January and December 2018 there were debts collected for Romania worth 60 million dollars. The relation with Cuba is influenced by the fact that the position of the Cuban government was to annul 100% as long as the transferable rouble ceased to exist after the disappearance of CAER (Mutual Aid Council - including the USSR, DRG, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, an equivalent of the European Organization for Economic Cooperation).
On 12 December 2015 Cuba reached an agreement with 14 of the 20 countries belonging to the Club în Paris with regards to the remaining debts worth 11.1 billion US dollars through which the creditors agreed to annul a part of the debt (90%), the interests and penalties and reschedule the remaining debt for a period of 18 years, after transforming a considerable part in local development funds.
Although Romania required the Club in Paris to include Romania, together with the member states for the negotiations which took place between the Club of Paris and the Cuban party, from the discussions held with the representatives of the Club it was clear that the process of negotiations with the Cuban party was very quick, so that there was no question at official level regarding the participation of Romania a? observer at the reunions of the Group of Cuba’s creditors in the Club in Paris.
The only countries former CAER members which managed to sort out the debts in Cuba were Russia and Slovakia, the success of the negotiations in the case of Slovakia being due to the personal contribution of premier Robert Fico. Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria did not solve their debts with the Republic of Cuba, the main issue being the conversion of the debt in convertible foreign currency, due to the disappearance of the transferable rouble once the CAER was out. According to the model of regulation adopted by the Club in Paris and the other CAER member states which managed to regulate the debts with Cuba (Russia and Slovacia) interests and delayed interests were not taken into account.
The government decided, in a decision of 2016 to begin the negotiations and the recovery of the debt from Cuba in a form comparable to that agreed in the countries members of the Club in Paris, Russia and Slovakia. The answer of the Cuban officials was that the present policy of the government is to wipe out the debts expressed in transferable roubles, taking into consideration that the currency does not exist anymore.
In the relation with the former CAER states, the Cuban debt in transferable roubles was sorted out by clearing out with Germany, Russia, Mongolia, Vietnam and Slovakia, not sorted out with Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, there is a signed agreement with Slovakia which refers to forte foreign currency în the accounts of Cuba, before 1990, and is not sorted out with the Czech Republic and Hungary which had deposits in forte foreign currency.
According to the document, the Romanian minister of finances Eugen Teodorovici proposed to put to value some medical facilities and research facilities in our country by having joint projects in the domain of oncology, diabetology and pharma which would allow Romania to make compensatory income for the Cuban debt and find solutions for the treatment against cancer.
In this sense, there was agreed to make a working group, at technical level, which will analyse the
possibilities for cooperation in the medical and pharma domain. After the visit of the minister Teodorovici to Cuba, in a meeting with the Romanian ambassador Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice-chairman of the council of ministers and the minister of economy and planning, showed that the Cuban party wants to keep the line of separation between the issue of Cuban debt to Romania and bilateral cooperation.
At the moment CAER disappeared the value of a transferable rouble was about one dollar.