The Republic of Moldova will be able to access US$94 million of the current program with the International Monetary Fund. The agreement is expected to be approved by the IMF Executive Directors and management team by the end of April, Prime Minister Dorin Recean and the mission chief of the IMF for Moldova Ruben Atoyan announced in a press briefing following the completion of discussions with the Moldovan authorities in the context of the third review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements in Chisinau, IPN reports.
Dorin Recean said that they discussed the macroeconomic developments, the prospects and persisting risks, namely economic risks and risks related to an eventual rise in prices. The Moldovan authorities undertook to resolutely implement the program agreed with the IMF, especially as regards macroeconomic stability. This will help to primarily build a resilient economy with support from the development partners.
“We agreed that our country will use US$94 million of the current program with the International Monetary Fund. The Government and the whole team will have to mobilize internal resources. Evidently, we should optimize costs and have disciplined management and it is very important to also have very good budgetary discipline. The objective is to grow the economy, to improve investment climate, to support the small and medium-sized enterprises and better target the social assistance we offer to the most vulnerable citizens,” stated Premier Recean.
For his part, Ruben Atoyan said the third review under the IMF-supported program was completed. As a result, the Republic of Moldova will be able to access 70.95 million Special Drawing Rights, which is equal to about US$ 94 million, of the US$369 million program.
“In general, the program is implemented based on the agreed parameters despite particular difficult circumstances and concurrent crises. The authorities have met all the quantitative performance criteria. So, structural reforms advance gradually, but efforts are still needed to promote the integrity, capacity and independence of the most important corruption prevention and fighting institutions and to enforce the anticorruption legislation,” said the IMF official.
According to him, satisfactory progress has been made in eliminating inefficiency and inequality from the fiscal system “Given the rather high probability of materialization of particular risks, it is further extremely important to promote adequate policies that would be backed by the foreign partners through budget support,” noted Ruben Atoyan.
