The money needed to pay subsidies for natural gas will be taken from the grants provided by the foreign partners of the Republic of Moldova, said Minister of Finance Dumitru Budianschi. According to him, the state will partially cover the gas rate for residential customers from the €75 million provided by the EU, from a €40 million grant promised by the Government of Germany and from a €10 million grant announced by the Government of Romania. The Ministry of Finance said the state does not afford to borrow money to pay subsidies as the borrowed money is intended for investment projects, IPN reports.
The minister said the Government is preparing a mechanism to compensate the people for the high gas rate and the non-reimbursable financial assistance promised by the European states will be used for the purpose. The Government does not want to borrow money for current needs.
“The foreign partners came with targeted support for subsidizing the gas rate. We have €75 million provided by the European Union, which specified that the money is intended for the citizens in the context of the energy crisis. We have a grant of €40 million promised by the Government of Germany, which is to come. We are having negotiations with the Government of Romania on the provision of a €10 million grant. It is very good that we have these grants as we cannot borrow much. The loans should be used for investment projects that would enable us to develop the country,” Dumitru Budinaschi stated in the program “Résumé” on RliveTV channel.
He noted that the US$27 million announced by the IMF is to be disbursed by the end of this month.
“The IMF team had a monitoring and assessment mission in the Republic of Moldova. The IMF team said the money will be disbursed when the budget is approved. The budget was approved and the meeting of the IMF Board is to take place on September 21. There is no impediment to the immediate disbursement of the funds,” stated Dumitru Budianschi.
He explained that to cope with the rocketing prices, the state comes with a support package for the citizens. The salaries of public sector employees will rise by 5.5% from October 1. The MPs, ministers and other categories of employees will not benefit from pay raises.
“The raise applies only to two reference values, 1,800 and 1,900, where there are employees and functionaries of public institutions. The state officials do not fall into this category. The employees of the Tax Service, the Customs Service and other institutions will not have their pays raised. I, for example, will not benefit from a raise,” said the minister.
Also, in accordance with the amendments made to the state budget, the public sector employees with salaries lower than 15,000 lei will get a lump sum of 3,000 lei, while the pensioners with pensions lower than 5,000 lei will receive by 1,500 lei in assistance.
