Romania has become the fifth Eastern European country to seek help from international lenders to deal with the economic downturn, after Ukraine, Serbia, Latvia and Hungary.

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In just a few months, Romania's economic fate has turned. From a country which last year registered the EU's highest growth rate, it's now shedding thousands of jobs, mainly in the car and steel sectors, and facing the collapse of a property boom.

The bailout may give some temporary relief to the economy, but in an embarrassment to the centre-left governing coalition which came to power late last year promising to raise wages and pensions in what remains one of the EU's poorest countries. Some trade unions are reluctantly backing the deal, but others are threatening strikes if spending cuts are enacted.

Oana Lungescu, BBC News, Brussels

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gaping budget deficit
the very large amount of money by which government spending is greater than its income

improve investors' confidence
make those who hold stocks or shares in companies and corporations more willing to buy more shares in those or other companies

a sharp drop
a fast and significant reduction

foreign capital inflows
money used for producing more wealth or for starting new businesses that comes from abroad

economic fate has turned
here, the state of economy has become much worse

shedding
losing, closing

property boom
when many new homes are built and their prices rise because there is a lot of demand

wages
a wage is a fixed amount of money that is paid, usually every week, to an employee (mostly for manual work)

reluctantly backing
supporting, although not very willingly

enacted
put into practice

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