New fiscal policy measures will lead to larger budget revenues, IMF mission

The new fiscal policy measures promoted by the Government will help increase the budget revenues in 2012, the head of the IMF mission to Moldova Nikolay Gueorguiev said in a conference given at the end of the visit to Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the IMF official, the low fiscal incomes collected into the budget in the wake of the robust economic growth (7.5% in the first half of the year) can be explained by the shortcomings in the fiscal legislation and the multitude of all kinds of concessions granted. “The discrepancy between the GDP growth and the social taxes is surprising. This and other details show that there is great tax evasion,” said Nikolay Gueorguiev. The head of the IMF mission considers that the fiscal and customs administration should double efforts in order to combat this phenomenon. The memorandum of economic and financial policies agreed with the Government of Moldova includes a number of short and medium-term measures aimed at increasing the voluntary compliance of taxpayers and at intensifying the inspection of those who pose a high risk of tax evasion, according the State Tax Service. “We consider that these and other measures applied equitably will enable in 2012 already to rebalance the fiscal incomes in relation to the GDP growth,” said Nikolay Gueorguiev. Prime Minister Vlad Filat told the same news conference that the budgetary-fiscal policy bill for 2012 was submitted to Parliament. “If we refer to the customs administration, we must exclude a number of concessions, including the possibility of including property that is not related to the technological process in the companies’ registered capital. There are also other concessions whose purpose is not clear. As to the fiscal administration, the related matters will be a priority for the Government of Moldova in 2012,” said Vlad Filat. The mission and the Moldovan authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the completion of the fourth reviews under the ECF/EFF arrangements. The agreement is subject to approval by IMF Management and the Executive Board. Board consideration is expected in early 2012. Completion of the review will enable Moldova to draw SDR50 million (about US$77 million) in support of its external reserve position.