IMF postponed visit owing to misunderstandings in Government, experts

The International Monetary Fund put off the visit of its mission to Moldova, scheduled for this week, owing to the disagreements in the Government and the situation created at Banca de Economii (BEM), consider economic analysts. The IMF took such a decision owing to the lack of communication in the executive, especially between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy, considers the economic analyst of Expert-Grup, Valeriu Prohnitski. The situation at BEM, which closed last year with losses of over 300 million lei, was another reason for the postponement. “The parliamentary hearings on the situation at Banca de Economii generated a harsh dialogue between the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance. The IMF does not care about the color of governments. It wants capable interlocutors,” stated Prohnitski. Analyst Roman Chirca said the IMF will not come to Moldova until it does not have a credible and reliable government. “Even if international representatives come, they will not have a definite partner with whom to discuss,” he stated. As the visit was put off, Moldova will not receive on time the tranche of almost 1 billion lei that the IMF was to disburse, said analyst Alexandru Fala. “We must look at the problem from two angles – the delay in receiving the tranche of US$70 million, and, which is more serious, the loss of the IMF as a player that monitors the implementation of reforms in Moldova. Thus, the Government must take immediate measures by re-capitalizing the BEM,” stated Fala. The IMF announced that its next mission to Moldova was postponed and urged the authorities to proceed with the implementation of measures needed to complete the sixth and final reviews of the program - including stabilization of Banca de Economii and adoption of necessary fiscal policies to support the budget - as discussed with the IMF mission that visited Chisinau in November 2012. The postponement of the visit was taken in the context of the political crisis in the Alliance for European Integration.