Opinion of the European Central Bank of 9 December 2011 on the payment of an increase in Romania’s International Monetary Fund quota (CON/2011/102)
Date: 2011-12-09
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: International Monetary Fund, Romania, central bank, foreign-exchange reserves, international monetary system, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 9 December 2011 

on the payment of an increase in Romania’s International Monetary Fund quota 

(CON/2011/102) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  30  November  2011,  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  Banca  Naţională  a 

României (BNR) for an opinion on a draft Government emergency ordinance on accepting the increase of 

Romania’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota (hereinafter the ‘draft ordinance’). 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning of the European Union and on the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC 

of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft ordinance relates to Banca Naţională a României. In accordance with 

the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing 

Council has adopted this opinion. 

1. 

Purpose of the draft ordinance 

On 15 December 2010, the IMF’s Board of Governors adopted Resolution No 66-2 to, inter alia, increase 

the quotas of all IMF members. The IMF must receive the required notices of consent to the increases by 

31 December 2011. Hence, BNR requests the ECB’s opinion to be issued by 12 December 2011. 

Under  the  draft  ordinance,  BNR  is  authorised  to  pay  the  increase  of  Romania’s  quota  from  special 

drawing rights (SDR) 1 030,2 million to SDR 1 811,4 million. As stated in the explanatory memorandum 

to the consultation letter, 25% of the proposed quota increase will be paid by using the reserve tranche 

facility and the remainder by Romanian lei.  

Article  4(4)  of  Law  No  312/2004  on  the  Statute  of  BNR2  states  that  BNR  exercises  rights  and  fulfils 

obligations incumbent on Romania in its capacity as an IMF member and Article 30(1)(c) states that BNR 

sets and maintains foreign reserves that are made up of, inter alia, ‘any other worldwide acknowledged 

reserve  assets,  including  the  right  to  purchase  from  the  IMF  within  the  reserve  tranche,  as  well  as  the 

special drawing rights holdings’. According to Article 2 of Government Ordinance No 30/1996 regulating 
Romania’s  participation  in  the  IMF3,  ‘starting  from  July  1996  all  rights  and  obligations  of  Romania 

1  
2  
3  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
Published in Monitorul Oficial al României, Part One, No 582, 30.6.2004. 
Published in Monitorul Oficial al României, Part One, No 186, 12.8.1996. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

resulting from transactions with the IMF shall be reflected in BNR’s balance sheet’. Thus, it is incumbent 

on the BNR to make the payments to the IMF in relation to the increase of Romania’s IMF quota.  

2.  General observations  

2.1   Central bank independence 

The  ECB  notes  that  BNR  is  responsible  for  paying  any  increases  in  Romania’s  IMF  quota  and  that  it 

exercises the rights and obligations incumbent on Romania in its capacity as an IMF member. The SDRs 
are part of the foreign reserves managed by BNR pursuant to Article 31(b) of the Statute of BNR4. Thus, 

BNR is entrusted with the task of exercising the rights and obligations resulting from the membership of 

its Member State in the IMF. The ECB understands that in this context and in line with the principle of 

central  bank  independence  enshrined  in  Article  130  of  the  Treaty  and  Article  7  of  the  Statute  of  the 

European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the  European  Central  Bank,  BNR  takes  decisions  in  a  fully 

independent manner regarding the management of the SDRs. 

2.2  The monetary financing prohibition 

Several  ECB  opinions5  have  noted  that  the  tasks  performed  by  a  national  central  bank  (NCB)  must 

comply with the monetary financing prohibition under Article 123 of the Treaty and Council Regulation 

(EC)  No 3603/93  of  13  December  1993  specifying  definitions  for  the  application  of  the  prohibitions 
referred to in Article 104 and Article 104b(1)6. Pursuant to Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 3603/93, the 

financing  by  NCBs  of  obligations  falling  upon  the  public  sector  vis-à-vis  the  IMF  is  not  regarded  as  a 

credit facility within the meaning of Article 123 of the Treaty. Therefore, the ECB notes that the payment 

by BNR of the proposed increase in Romania’s quota in the IMF does not infringe the monetary financing 

prohibition.  

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 9 December 2011. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

4  

5  

6  

Banca  Naţională  a  României  shall  be  authorised  under  the  terms  established  by  it  and  subject  to  its  periodical 
amendments to purchase, sell and perform other transactions with foreign currencies.  
See the most recent opinions: CON/2011/68, CON/2011/89 and CON/2011/97. All ECB Opinions are published on the 
ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 1. 

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