The Moldovan authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team have reached staff-level agreements on policies for completion of the fifth reviews of Moldova’s programs under the Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility (ECF/EFF) arrangements, and the first review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).

The IMF said in a press release that program performance has been broadly on track, although some structural reforms have been delayed.

Over the past few weeks, an IMF team, led by Clara Mira, conducted discussions in Chisinau and Washington to review Moldova’s ongoing programs. As a result, Clara Mira declared that the staff-level agreement that has been reached is subject to approval by the IMF’s Management and Executive Board. Completing the reviews will make SDR 133 million (about $175.2 million) available, bringing total disbursements under the ongoing programs to about $636.5 million.

“Program performance under the ECF/EFF has been broadly on track, though with some delays in implementation of structural reforms. Reform measures under the RSF are also on track for this review”, said the IMF team leader, adding:

“An extension of the timeline for delayed reforms (on the adoption of the law on the establishment of an Anti-Corruption adjudication infrastructure, including a credible selection process for anti-corruption judges, and measures related to central bank independence) has been agreed, along with several proposed new structural benchmarks, including in the areas of governance, independence, transparency and accountability of the National Bank; strengthening the independence of the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office in the hiring of its staff; strengthening and modernizing tax audits; and presenting the fiscal accounts in line with the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM2014).”

Consideration of the reviews by the IMF Executive Board is planned for late June.