Relations between Moldova and the International Monetary Fund are excellent and probably they are the strongest they have been in 30 years, Mark Horton, Deputy Director of the IMF’s European Department, stated in the podcast “Give Sense to Money”, IPN reports.
“We have a big program with Moldova, a big financial support program. We’ve had those in the past, we’ve had a series of programs since probably 1992 or 1993. This one is large, it covers a very long period of time – ultimately, nearly four years, from December 2021 until October 2025. That's a long period. The IMF Executive Board has approved the 4th review of the program. That's a good sign, it means that our agreement is being met, we see good ownership, we see good performance,” said Mark Horton.
He noted that this program was made larger – augmented, as we say – after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, when the needs were larger. “Now we’re adding a second facility. It's a new facility the IMF has to support climate change policies, to support energy security, to support green finance. Moldova requested a new program with that facility, it will be $170 million. It's only the second one in Europe. So, it’s a big deal and a big development. We have good relations with our counterpart authorities, we're grateful for their efforts and we strongly support the policy framework and where it's going,” said the Deputy Director of the IMF’s European Department.
Mark Horton also said that they’ve had a series of programs and the fundamental basis of the program is to provide financial support. Sometimes, the needs were acute, other times the programs were longer.
“We have sort of two main facilities: one is called a standby arrangement and the second one are so-called extended arrangements. A standby arrangement tend to be 12-18 months long and really deal with acute financing needs. For the extended arrangements, the repayment periods are somewhat longer and that allows focus on more structural or more long-lasting challenges. So, with that in mind, the programs of the IMF typically focus on similar areas or issues as they go along: making sure fiscal policy is sustainable, making sure that the budget deficit is not too large, that spending is efficient, that tax revenues are raised in a way that doesn't hurt the economy, doesn't put too much of a burden on households, on firms.,” stated the IMF official.
