Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu said there are no preconditions for Gazprom to halt the gas supplies to the Republic of Moldova. According to the official, after the amendment of the 2021 state budget law and the allocation of 1.4 billion lei for clearing the debt to owed to the Russian gas giant, the money will be transferred and the problem will be solved. The money provided by Energocom for clearing the debt of Termoelectrica remains a debt between two state-run companies and Termoelectrica is to gradually settle this debt, IPN reports.

Andrei Spînu said the decision to allocate money from the state budget for paying the debt for October and the advance for November was taken during the state of emergency. By rectifying the 2021 state budget, Parliament provided a part of the money to Energocom for clearing the debt owed to Gazprom.

“The decision aimed at overcoming the October crisis was taken by the Commission for Emergencies. Parliament only amended the 2021 state budget law. It was then decided to allocate 1.7 billion lei for overcoming this situation. 300 million lei of the 1.7 billion lei went to purchase gas for stabilizing pressure inside the network. By amending the law, Parliament maintained the allocation of 1.7 billion lei to Energocom,” Andrei Spînu stated in the program “The Fourth Estate” on N4 TV channel.

The official said the condition for Moldova to pay the debt for October and the advance for November by November 20 wasn’t a surprise as this is stipulated in the contract signed with Gazprom. The Government decided to sign a debt transfer contract for allocating money to the state-run company Energocom so as to clear Termoelectrica’s debt to Moldovagaz, which, for its part, is to transfer the money to Gazprom.

“Termoelectrica has a debt for heat energy of 2 billion lei that accumulated since 2001. The company gradually repays this debt to Moldovagaz. A part of this debt of 2 billion lei will be taken over by Energocom and Termoelectrica will not have debts,” stated Andrei Spînu.

The debt owed by Moldovagaz to Gazprom for October accumulated because the rate paid by the citizens didn’t cover the purchase price of gas. Andrei Spînu said Moldova will no longer face this problem in December as the gas rate for end users was raised to 11.08 lei and this rate fully covers the purchase price of gas, while the Government will partially subsidize the rise.