Prime Minister Pavel Filip expressed his conviction that the external financing will be unblocked in the near future owing to the reforms initiated by the Government, which enabled to reach an agreement with the IMF, IPN reports.
The Premier is confident that the Republic of Moldova will sign an agreement with the IMF in October and the first tranche of the loan of almost US$180 million will be disbursed rapidly. “We discussed the possibility of receiving the first sum this budgetary year. It will happen shortly after the agreement is approved, in October or November,” he stated.
Pavel Filip noted that besides providing financing, the new program will enable to unblock the financial support offered to the country by other donors and development partners. Thus, in a month Moldova could get the first tranche of €60 million of the loan promised by Romania. The EU funds of about €50 million and the financing of US$45 million from the World Bank will also be unlocked.
“I categorically disagree with the way in which the opposition presents our relations with the development partners and our approaches aimed at regaining the external credibility. It should be clear that neither this Government nor Moldova begs for money. We set concrete economic and financial objectives and these are useful to Moldova and should be achieved. Someone can oppose our efforts to sign an agreement with the IMF only out of demagogy or ignorance,” stated Pavel Filip.
IMF staff and the Moldovan authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on an economic reform program to be supported by a three-year Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility (ECF/EFF) arrangement. Access under this arrangement is proposed to be set at 75 percent of Moldova’s quota in the Fund (SDR 129 million, or about US$ 179 million).
