The first tranche of the loan provided by the Russian Federation to Moldova will be transferred to the state budget account at the beginning of April. The other tranche will be disbursed when it is asked for, Prime Minister Ion Chicu was quoted by IPN as saying in a news conference.

The official said that today the Cabinet held a meeting so as to delegate the power to sign the lending agreement to Moldova’s Ambassador to Russia Andrei Neguța. The signing procedure will take place the next few days. Later, the document will be ratified by the governments and parliaments of the two states.

According to Ion Chicu, the loan is repayable in 11 years at an interest rate of 2%. The grace period is one year. The Moldovan side can repay the loan faster without any penalty.

Last November, on his return from a visit to Russia, Premier Ion Chicu said that Russia agreed to provide a loan of US$ 500 million. It was later reported that US$ 300 million will be disbursed this year. Currently, the authorities say the loan is of €200 million.

The Premier noted that the last tranche of €6.7 million of the agreement with the IMF was transferred to the state budget account today. Up to US$ 20 million in budget support is expected to come in several hours.