Romania to hike VAT to 24 pct, IMF to meet June 30

BUCHAREST, June 26 (Reuters) - Romania's centrist coalition government will hike value added tax by 5 percentage points to 24 percent as of July 1, moving to unlock a 20 billion euros IMF-led aid package, Prime Minister Emil Boc said on Saturday.

The VAT hike comes one day after the European Union state's top court ruled against key planned pension cuts, prompting the International Monetary Fund to postpone a June 28 meeting to discuss Romania's aid package.

Boc said the IMF Board will now meet on June 30 and that he hoped it will approve the disbursement of around 2 billion euros in IMF and European Commission funds.

Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu, who said he was 'disappointed' that the VAT hike was necessary, said the move will bring up to 4 billion lei in additional revenue to the budget by the end year, needed to meet an IMF-agreed fiscal deficit target of 6.8 percent of GDP.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Ron Askew) Keywords: ROMANIA TAX/HIKE ([e-mail] ; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.