Fort a new mission of the International Monetary Fund to come to Moldova and for particular measures to be agreed and the next tranche of the IMF to be disbursed, we need a government with plenipotentiary powers in Chisinau, National Bank governor Octavian Armașu was quoted by IPN as saying in the talk show “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1.
“To have an assessment mission based on which we could agree particular actions and could get the next tranche, we need a government with plenipotentiary powers. After the parliamentary alliance is formed and a government is named, we will be probably visited by an IMF mission that will come with a plenipotentiary mission to set the next steps and to disburse the next tranche,” stated Octavian Armașu.
The governor noted an IMF mission visited recently Chisinau and it seems that everyone is satisfied with the evolution of the National Bank of Moldova. “We managed to further ensure shareholder transparency. We will be looking for new investors for some of the banks,” he added.
As to the Kroll II report on the banking fraud, Octavian Armașu said this was taken from the central bank immediately after it was presented by the foreign company. Over 2 billion lei of the emergency loan provided to Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank has been repaid so far from the sale of banks’ assets and assets of convicted persons.
The governor noted the Republic of Moldova has now a banking system that is fully different from the one that existed five years ago. “We have well-capitalized banks. Most of the banks have transparent investors. Some 90% of the bank shares are held by European investors. We have an absolutely new normative framework,” stated Octavian Armașu. According to him, the National Bank of Moldova supervises the commercial banks and these are in good hands.
The governor also said that the nonperforming loans are at an acceptable level. The dynamics are positive also owing to the fact that banks’ loan portfolios increase. “Most of the nonperforming loans were inherited and new such loans accumulate in a modest amount,” he stated.
He added that the rate of inflation in Moldova is now lower than the inflation target, but a rise will be witnessed the coming months and the annual average will be close to 5%. The rise is mainly due to the particular tariff adjustments. “This is something normal. Our policies are aimed at bringing back inflation to the target of 5% after this cycle.”
Octavian Armașu also said that there are now no problems related to liquidity in the banking system. There is even an excess of liquidity, but this is a short-term phenomenon.
