Government approves 200 million lei loan granted by the Treasury to the National Highway and Road Company

The Government has approved the 200 million lei loan that the Romanian National Highway and Road Company (CNADNR) will take out from the Treasury in order to refinance a loan previously taken out in 2004, according to a bill approved by the Government which was yesterday published in the Official Gazette.

"In order to refinance the loan awarded by the State Treasury by means of Government Bill no. 1.508/2004 concerning the awarding of a loan to the Romanian National Highway and Road Company in order to cover the company"s 2003 deficit, the company will be awarded a loan worth 199,916,006.58 lei from the privatization earnings recorded in the current account of the State Treasury", says the Government Emergency Decree approved by the Government.

The loan will be awarded starting September for a three years and nine months period, with a grace period of two years and three months, with an interest rate equal to the policy interest rate of the central bank of Romania + four percentage points.

The amount will be disbursed by the Ministry of Public Finance. The reimbursement of the loan will be done starting in December 2011, in four equal semi-annual installments. The interest will be payable quarterly, starting in December 2009.

The bill will come into effect three days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

The Ministry of Transports and Infrastructure (MTI) announced at the end of last month that it had a draft bill under development for awarding a loan to the CNADNR in order to refinance the loan the former had received from the State Treasury in 2004.