An audit mission established that on December 31, 2017, the public sector debt was lower compared with the corresponding period a year before. The balance of the public sector debt was 58.451,7 billion lei, 34.179,2 million (US$1.998,8bn) of which was the external debt and 24.272,5 billion lei was the internal debt. The balance of the public sector debt in 2017 declined by 851.4 million lei (1.4%) on a year before. This debt at the end of last year represented 38.9% of the GDP, a decrease of 4.9%. The performance audit report on the 2017 public sector debt management was presented in a public meeting on May 28, IPN reports.
The state debt balance at the end of 2017 was 51.660,3 billion lei. Of this, the external state debt was 29.081,8 billion lei (US$ 1.700,7bn), while the internal state debt was 22.578,5 billion lei. The state debt at the end of last year represented about 34.4% of the GDP and the state debt sustainability indicators were thus within limits, according to the Court of Auditors.
The state securities issued on the primary market represented 32.0% of the internal state debt, which is 7.223,9 billion lei. The converted state securities represented 9.1% or 2.063,4 billion lei, while the state securities issued to fulfill obligations deriving from state guarantees – 58.9% or 13.291,2 million lei. Compared with last year, the internal state debt rose by 1.058,9 billion lei or 4.9% following the rise in issues of state securities on the primary market, namely of state securities for creating a liquidity reserve of 508.9 million lei and state securities for financing the state budget deficit to the value of 600 million lei.
The audit showed the banks that undergo liquidation (Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank) on December 31, 2017 repaid 1.071,1 billion lei (7.6%) of the emergency loans provided by the National Bank of Moldova under the Government’s guarantee. A sum of 209.9 million lei was collected into the 2017 state budget following the sale of assets owned by the banks under liquidation. Thus, the debts of the three banks last yearend totaled 13.050,6 billion lei.
As regards the external state debt (US$1.700,7bn), its balance was by 16.1% higher than that recorded at the end of 2016 owing to the positive net external financing of US$ 123.9 million lei and the fluctuation in the exchange rate of foreign currencies against the US dollar, which led to a rise of US$ 112.1 million lei in the balance of the external state debt expressed in US dollars.
In 2017, the disbursed external loans came to US$ 195.6 million, a decrease of US$ 34.7 million or 15.1% on a year before. According to the Court of Auditors’ audit report, the low level of disbursement is due to the fact that the institutions responsible for the projects under implementation didn’t meet the execution deadlines.
The total costs associated with the servicing of the state debt increased by 118.3 million lei.
Based on these and other verified aspects, the Court of Auditors concluded that the public sector debt at the end of 2017 was lower than in the corresponding period last year, including as a share of the GDP. At the same time, the internal state debt rose owing to the issuing of state securities for creating a liquidity reserve and for financing the budget deficit that was within the afferent risk and sustainability parameters, according to the limits set by the medium-term state debt management program for 2017-2019.
