The ratings on Romania reflect the low government debt burden, good growth prospects, and the commitment of the new centrist government to step up Romania's economic and institutional reforms, which will in turn solidify the prospect of the country's timely accession to the EU in 2007. Romania's recent advancement of structural reforms in the country's state-owned enterprise sector should lead to lasting improvements in public sector finances, while prospects for deepening parastatal reform are encouraging. The government of Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu took office in late December 2004 and has immediately begun to accelerate the economic and institutional reform process. A radical tax reform introducing a 16% flat tax on corporate and personal incomes, effective from 2005, has been accompanied
