“We won’t have any price hikes for gas this year neither for household nor for non-household consumers,” Chitoiu told reporters, adding price hikes will occur in 2013.
He also said Romania has registered delays in adopting legislation to deregulate energy prices.
“We have committed to pass an emergency decree on the gas bill,” Chitoiu said.
Romanian authorities had promised the IMF they would set up a calendar to deregulate natural gas prices. In the past three years, Romania cashed in over 1 billion lei (EUR227 million) a year in royalties for all types of energy resources.
An official document obtained by MEDIAFAX shows the deregulation scheme for household consumers of electricity will include ten stages, between July 2013 and December 2017.
For industrial consumers, prices will be deregulated in six stages, between September 2012 and January 2014.