The European Union offered the Republic of Moldova €53 million in budget support. Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița said the money will be spent on infrastructure projects and to support the population with low incomes. The EU stands by Moldova in this difficult period. The country was incorporated into the EU platform for the common purchase of gas and will this way be able to reduce its energy dependency on Russia, IPN reports.
Premier Gavrilița said that at the Moldova Support Platform conference held in Berlin in April, the European community offered Moldova non-reimbursable financial assistance and loans in advantageous conditions to help the country overcome the economic crisis generated by the war.
“We received €53 million in budget support from the European Union. This money can be used to invest, for example, in the European Village project or in road infrastructure. The money can be also used to support vulnerable citizens who, owing to the increase in prices, witness a decrease in the purchasing power. This budget support helps us ensure a rise in pensions and the indexation of these. Such support instruments are very valuable. €10 million will come from Romania as budget support. We also have such loans as the one from Poland, which is provided in very advantageous conditions, with an interest rate of 0.01%, while the repayment period is of over 20 years. The grace period is also very generous. We now need instruments to overcome this economic crisis,” Natalia Gavrilița stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
The Premier noted that besides financial support, the European community is ready to help solve the problems faced by Moldova in the energy and food security sectors.
“We were included in the common platform for the purchase of natural gas and are eager to see the mechanism for the purchase of natural gas together with other European countries. We are also discussing the removal of export duties, improvement of logistics chains by liberalizing transport permits. We also want to help the farmers. A global shortage of fertilizers is now witnessed. We are looking for solutions in the East and in the West to get fertilizers. We are having talks with Azerbaijan in this regard,” said Natalia Gavrilița.
Earlier, the minister of agriculture and food industry also said that negotiations were being initiated with the Azeri side for providing the Moldovan farmers with fertilizers from Azerbaijan. The farmers need fertilizers at reasonable prices so that the prices of finished products are not raised given that the fertilizers represent 20% of the final price.
