The evolution of Romania’s economy did not match the IMF's expectations for the first 2009 trimester, according to IMF representative for Romania and Bulgaria Tonny Lybek, who made the statement in an interview for The Money Channel. An IMF mission is due to arrive in Bucharest in August to study the situation.

"It's slightly worse than we have expected. When we negotiated the programme, we analysed the available data and projected a -4.1% economic growth for 2009. (...) We expect the economy to recover in the second half of 2010", Lybek said.

Romania's GDP dropped during the first trimester by 6.2% against the same period in 2008, according to the data released on Tuesday by Romania's National Institute of Statistics (INS), which downgraded the contraction from 6.4%, the level estimated in May.

The IMF official said the economic evolution during this period was under expectations in several countries, therefore the situation in Romania was not special.