Debts of 13 food companies to be canceled

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin enacted a Law on canceling the debts of 13 companies operating in farming and food processing, Info-Prim Neo has learnt from the presidential press service. So the state annuls the interests, penalties and the risk funds not paid in due time by SA Produse Cerealiere (Balti); SA Cereale-Prut (Ungheni); SA Aur-Alb (Ceadar-Lunga), SA Fertilitate Straseni; firm Vorniceni-Agrovin (Straseni); SRL Sadac-Agro (Basarabeasca); SRL Vialtos (Cantemir); SRL Mitarix (Cimislia); SRL Rusmiliud (Orhei); SRL Codru-ST (Straseni); SRL Crocmaz-Agro (Stefan Voda); firms Basarabia (Anenii Noi) and Dimitrov (Taraclia), which received loans from the Finance Ministry from 1993 to 1996. The mentioned companies benefited from different types of foreign loans from international financial institutions, from the US Government, pursuing to back them by providing them wheat and corn. The grain important in this project was distributed without taking into consideration the prices on the domestic market, the low quality of the production, other negative factors. In addition, those loans were granted to those companies without analyzing them financially, as the currency crash in 1998 practically failed the Moldovan cereal processors. From all those beneficiaries, but three are still working now, reads the communique aired by the presidency. All those factors made impossible the reimbursement of the loans by those companies. By October 1, 2008, the total debts of those companies stood $15.2 million and 144.2 million lei.