The Romanian prime minister, Radu Vasile, has welcomed the new loan of more than five hundred million dollars approved by the International Monetary Fund IMF.

Mr Vasile said the package would help Romania return to the international capital markets and end what he called the circle of distrust of previous years.

The deputy managing director of the IMF, Stanley Fisher, said that if fully implemented, the loan should help Romania to achieve economic stability and sustainable growth.

But IMF offcials have expressed concern about the implementation of previous fund programmes. The last loan expired before the IMF paid it out in full.