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Romania Retirement of the Foreign Debt
After 1983 Ceausescu refused to seek additional loans
from the
IMF or the World Bank and severely curtailed imports from
hardcurrency nations while maximizing exports--to the great
detriment
of the standard of living. As a consequence, Romania ran
balanceof -trade surpluses as large as US$2 billion per year
throughout the
rest of the decade. With great fanfare, Ceausescu
announced the
retirement of the foreign debt in April 1989, proclaiming
that
Romania had finally achieved full economic and political
independence. Shortly thereafter, the GNA enacted
legislation
proposed by Ceausescu to prohibit state bodies--including
banks--
from seeking foreign credits.
Data as of July 1989
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