Parliament ratified amendment No. 2 to the financing agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the International Development Association (IDA) for implementing the Moldova Education Reform Project and for extending the agreement implementation period for ten more months, until June 2019. As a result, US$ 12 million will be transferred to the Moldova Social Investments Fund for repairing 15 district schools, IPN reports.

Presenting the draft in the July 7 sitting of Parliament, deputy minister of education Lilia Pogolsa said the agreement with the IDA was signed in 2013 and the Ministry of Education is responsible for the implementation of the education reform. The agreement envisions the provision of a specific investment loan financed by the World Bank, with disbursements made in accordance with the meeting of performance indicators.

“26.1 million Special Drawing Rights or the equivalent of US$ 38.5 million is to be allocated as budget support for implementing the planned measures based on the financing agreement signed with the International Development Association, including 16 indicators. The financing agreement was amended in 2015 and we now propose a new amendment aimed at optimizing the implementation of the project,” stated Lilia Pogolsa.

The list of schools that will be repaired was approved by the project’s Coordination Council.

By the end of February 2017, Moldova met ten of the 16 performance indicators for which US$ 18.9 million was allocated from the initial loan intended for the education reform.