IMF mission head Nikolai Gueorguiev meets Moldovan economy journalists
The International Monetary Fund may furnish for Moldova a next tranche from its US$574-million credit that has been agreed upon in the 2010-2012 financing program, Nikolai Gueorguiev, Head of the IMF assessment mission working in Moldova these days, said during his meeting with local journalists writing economy and finance.
He said that a review of the mission's work results will be presented at a farewell news conference next week, but he nevertheless told the eager journalists some interesting figures and observations.
For instance, Nikolai Gueorguiev said that the 3rd tranche will be in the amount of 50 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR), of which sum 15 million will go directly to the Government and 35 million will replenish the National Bank's hard-currency reserves.
Concerning the NBM reserves, the mission leader said the International Monetary Fund recommends the marker regulator to build up its reserves that will help the country remain afloat in case of a crisis, and thus to become less vulnerable to external shocks.
In his words, the IMF mission experts have assessed quite highly the macro-economic results achieved by the Filat Government in 2010, expressing satisfaction about a relatively low inflation (8.1%) and a GDP growth which is expected to be 7%. Despite a consumption growth, which had a positive impact on the GDP growth, Moldova built up its exports of goods and services by over 20% last year.
The IMF hopes that the Moldovan economy will continue growing in the first half of 2011, after which the pace will apparently slow down a little. In this connection, the IMF mission approves of the National Bank's actions aimed at suppressing the growth of consumer prices.
In Moldova, he said, inflation bears a non-monetary character. The inflation here is strongly influenced by the weight of excessive growth expectations by the population and economic operators, which phenomenon, under certain specific circumstances, may trigger an inflation surge. That's why the National Bank takes measures to prevent this.
Concerning the IMF forecasts for 2011, Nikolai Gueorguiev said the Fund is expecting a continuation of the Moldovan economy's growth, though it will apparently be a bit smaller than in 2010.
"We expect that rate of inflation by the end of 2011 will be below 8.1%", said the IMF mission head Nikolai Gueorguiev.
More detailed information about the mission's work in Moldova will be presented in our Infotag-Analytica issue of February 16.
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