The authorities’ decision to pay the debt for October and the advance for November owed to Gazprom by conceding a part of the debt owed by Termoelectrica to Moldovagaz is dubious. Economic exerts and political leaders consider the Government acts with delay and leaves again the Republic of Moldova in suspense as to an eventual halt in gas supplies, IPN reports.
Former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alexandru Slusari and the leader of the Party of Change Ștefan Gligor said the method identified by the Government to offer Moldovagaz the money needed for clearing the debt owed to Gazprom is very dubious. As Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu said, it is a debt transfer contract worth 1.4 billion lei, whereby the state company Energocom would take over a part of the debt owed by the utility Termoelectrica to Moldovagaz.
“These obscure games leave a bitter taste. If they all knew about the November 22 deadline, why did they wait up to the last moment? If Andrei Spînu didn’t know about this, a question about his competence appears. It would be serious if these games are coordinated with Gazprom, for example, to allocate public money as swiftly as possible given the risk of remaining without natural gas. The proposed solution is controversial and suspect,” Alexandru Slusari stated in the program “Secrets of the Power” on JurnalTV channel.
“The Republic of Moldova, by Andrei Spînu’s signature, undertook to pay the differences between the purchase price and the gas rates for October and November 2021. Spînu behaves as if he last Friday realized that he signed an unacceptable clause on October 29. Missis Prime Minister should come and explain what kind of payment mechanism this is. Why wasn’t the money transferred directly through the Commission for Emergencies? What is the reason for such a dubious financial agreement with Termoelectrica?” asked Ștefan Gligor.
Economic expert Veaceslav Ioniță warned that public money is used to pay a debt to Gazprom that accumulated artificially.
“They acted so because they are incompetent, out of ill will or by agreement with Gazprom. The price for October was to be about US$ 450, but they now say that the price is US$790. Isn’t NAC interested in such a development? Of the US$74 million, half is a debt created artificially and it is dubious. The other half of the debt indeed consists of gas rate deviations,” said Veaceslav Ioniță.
Yesterday, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu informed that Gazprom extended the deadline by which Moldovagaz must repay the current debt for the supplied gas until November 26. The sum of 1.4 billion lei will be taken from the money allocated to Energocom during the state of emergency. Today, Parliament is to decide the method of transferring the money by a final vote.
