An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Ruben Atoyan will visit Chisinau during January 22 – February 5, 2020. The visit was announced by Volodymyr Tulin, IMF Resident Representative in the Republic of Moldova, by a press statement, IPN reports.

The mission will hold discussions with the authorities in preparation of the 2020 Article IV consultation and in the context of the sixth and final reviews of Moldova’s IMF-supported program under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements.

The mission will take stock of the recent economic developments and the progress in authorities’ program implementation, update and assess the macroeconomic outlook, and discuss with the authorities medium-term challenges and risk facing Moldova’s economy and policies to address them.

Moldova’s three-year IMF program, approved on November 7, 2016, is supported by a loan of SDR 129.4 million (about US$182 million, or 75 percent of the Republic of Moldova’s quota), of which SDR 115 million (about US$160 million) have been already disbursed. Two thirds of the loan are provided under the Extended Credit Facility, which carries a zero interest rate through 2018, a grace period of 5½ years, and a 10-year maturity. The rest of the loan is provided under the Extended Fund Facility, which carries an annual interest rate equal to the SDR basic rate of charge (currently 1.7 percent), and is repayable over 10 years with a 4½ -year grace period.