The Government of Romanian on August 3 approved the provision of the first tranche of €60 million of the loan of €150 million offered to the Republic of Moldova. The spokesperson for the Romanian executive Liviu Iolu has told the press that the first tranche of the loan will be disbursed on August 24, IPN reports.

The lending agreement between Romania and Moldova was signed in Chisinau on October 7, 2015 and was ratified in 2016, being supplemented as a result of the exchange of notes between the Prime Ministers of Romania and Moldova.

By the exchange of notes, the sides agreed on articular obligations that are to be fulfilled by Moldova, including to work out a roadmap for reaching an agreement with the IMF, to initiate a legislative package for improving the environment, to launch a system analysis of the vulnerabilities in the banking system and to set a legislative calendar for dealing with these and to present a plan for updating and implementing the justice secret reform strategy and the national anticorruption strategy.

The loan is provided as budget support and is repayable in five years at an interest rate of 1.5% a year. The money is to reach Moldova in three tranches.