Most of the International Monetary Fund’s expectations regarding Moldova concern the stabilization and improvement of the situation in the banking system and the capital market. The IMF is yet to put forth a set of conditions, it’s waiting to see the authorities’ intent to change something. The Fund probably expects that before the vote on the agreement with Moldova, reforms will advance enough to be clear that it’s an irreversible path.
The topic was discussed during a public debate on the topic “The economical and political importance of Moldova’s Agreement with the IMF and the political ability to implement it”, the 58th in the series “Developing political culture through public debates”, organized by IPN Press Agency in partnership with Radio Moldova. Economic expert Natan Garstea thinks the IMF wants more autonomy for the National Bank. Special administration was instituted over the three raided banks the second day after elections and not two months before. “Obviously, it was a political decision to avoid ruining the general picture before elections. However, a National Bank focused on its job doesn’t care about politics but about the stability of the banking system. Something like this shouldn’t have happened”, said Garstea.
According to him, the latest amendments to the Law regarding the National Bank did increase its immunity and independence to a certain extent. A whole package of bills concerning the financial-banking system has been prepared to allow efficient interventions in crisis situations. “As far as I know, during the negotiations, the IMF was more or less satisfied with the latest developments, but before the approval of the memorandum, these bills must become laws”, stressed the expert.
In his opinion, Moldova lags behind in several aspects and political will is needed to correct this. Initiating reforms is a test that will show how serious the government is about making these changes. “I think this might be an agreement with some harsh conditions for us, such as raising the retirement age and reducing public expenditure, which was to be expected”, said Garstea.
He thinks the authorities are trying to delay the publication of the contents of the agreement. “As I understand it now, they have the excuse that this is not the final draft of the document and thus is subject to changes. They’ll probably say it’s pointless to discuss it before we have a final version. The IMF mission will probably meet Moldova halfway if the government asks not to disclose the agreement’s contents before the final version is approved. The IMF is usually pretty accommodating in such situations”, explained Natan Garstea.
The public debate about “The economical and political importance of Moldova’s Agreement with the IMF and the political ability to implement it” was the 58th in the IPN series “Developing political culture through public debates”, organized with the support of German Foundation Hanns Seidel.
