Govt. to discuss budget shortfall with IMF

A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will pay a short visit to Moldova next week (April 22-24). They will discus with the Moldovan officials about issues related to executing the budget and to the development of macroeconomic indices, deputy premier Igor Dodon stated on April 16. The Economy Minister assessed as exaggerated the statements that Moldova's budget deficit would reach 1billion euros. “We're still making the evaluations,” he said. Dodon added “it's welcome to enhance the budget shortfall for investment programs.” “When all the countries in the region are hit by the financial crisis, it's necessary to finance the infrastructure entities. All the countries use this formula: the USA with the budget shortfall of 12%, Russia – of 7.8 %. We also pursue to raise the budget deficit by attracting means for infrastructure entities,” Igor Dodon said. He says, in quarter 1 of 2009, the budget shortfall matches the parameters agreed with the IMF. Earlier, the Finance Ministry announced that the expenditures of the public budget in quarter 1 exceeded the incomes with over 900 million lei, according to preliminary data. Igor Dodon says there are no problems with paying off salaries and social payments so far. Dodon reiterated that Moldova's relations with the IMF are very good and as soon as the new government is installed, negotiations on a new cooperation will start. The running program ends in May.