€ 45,3 M of budget support assistance funds provided by the European Commission have reached the budget of Moldova. This amount corresponds to budget support disbursements under four programs: Economic Stimulation in Rural Areas (ESRA), European Neighborhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD), Public Finance Policy Reform, and Vocational Education Training, IPN reports, quoting a press release published on the website of the EU Delegation to Moldova.
These payments are not related to new Budget Support programs but are connected to existing programs that have been ongoing since their signature before 2014. To allow for this, the Government of the Republic of Moldova has met the conditions and achieved some of the results linked to these four budget support programs.
These conditions are twofold: General Conditions applicable to all budget support programs - their fulfillment qualifies the beneficiary for budget support disbursement or not and they relate to macro-economic stability-oriented policy, public finance management, budget transparency and sectoral overall policy progress, and Specific Conditions, which refer to specific sectoral reforms.
On the General Conditions, Moldova has made significant progress in the implementation of stability-oriented macro-economic policy, including measures tackling long-standing vulnerabilities rooted in a non-transparent shareholder structure of the banks and weaknesses in the financial supervisory and regulatory framework. All these progresses paved the way notably for the IMF Board’s approval of a new program with Moldova. Secondly, Moldova has also made some progress in the way it is managing its public finances and preparing in a more transparent manner its budget.
The amounts finally disbursed do not correspond to the full amounts requested by the Moldovan authorities. The decision to make partial a payment of € 45,3 million out of € 50 million (eligible) reflects a partial achievement on the Specific Conditions set in the budget support programs.
The press release says the European Union remains committed to supporting the Republic of Moldova in its reform efforts, but expects tangible results.
Among accomplishments are also mentioned the Public Finance Policy Reform program, the progress made in improving the quality of the work of the Audit Office, achievements in ESRA such as the construction of 2 business incubators and the creation of almost 200 new businesses. More than 1100 new jobs were created from the grants schemes such as the National Program for Economic Empowerment of Youth and PARE 1+1.
The achievements in the Agriculture and Rural Development sector relate to modernization of livestock farms and food establishments and compliance with EU quality and animal products safety requirements, establishment of new vineyards with high productivity, facilitation of creation and recognition of producers' groups. In 2016, 1142 requests for payment of subsidies for agricultural producers were met.
