IMF to give Moldova 77-million-dollar installment next April
Moldova's authorities have reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) mission on the completion of the second evaluation of the country programme.
The completion of this evaluation will make it possible for Moldova to receive 77 million dollars to support the budget and fill the currency reserves, after the agreement is approved by the IMF Executive Board in early April 2011.
"The discussions with the IMF mission took place in a very constructive framework," Prime Minister Vlad Filat said at a today's news conference on the occasion of the conclusion of the IMF mission. Filat said that, despite the problems faced by Moldova in 2010, most performance criteria agreed upon with the Fund were fulfilled. Yet, the snap elections and certain technical difficulties "led to a delay in the fulfillment" of some commitments.
"The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recorded a 6.9-per-cent increase in 2010, thus significantly exceeding the initial forecast for the last year (1.5 per cent), as well as the subsequently revised forecast (3.5 per cent)," the prime minister said. He stressed that GDP got back to the level registered before the economic crisis.
The government intends to increase the teachers' and civil servants' salary by 25 and respectively 12.5 per cent in 2011, Vlad Filat said.
"In general, the programme is being successfully carried out, although the implementation of several structural performance criteria was postponed because of the last year polls and some technical difficulties. The authorities committed to speed up the enforcement of these measures," the head of the IMF mission, Nikolay Gueorguiev, told the news conference.
The high IMF official also said: "In 2010, Moldova sped up the economic restoration process, and the real GDP returned to the level recorded before the crisis. For the 2011-2012 period, we expect a robust 4.5-5-per-cent economic growth; the deficit of the current account of the balance of payments will be maintained at a high level, as it is determined by an increased domestic demand; the inflation will drop from 7.5 per cent in late 2011 to 5 per cent by late 2012, despite the recent wave of increase in prices for foodstuffs and energy resoures on international markets."
"In this context, we welcome the authorities' decision to cut the budget deficit to the level of 1.9 per cent of GDP in 2011 and continue the budgetary adjustment process in 2012," Nikolay Gueorguiev said.
The IMF mission was on a visit to Chisinau on 2-16 February to carry out the second evaluation of the country programme, backed via the financing mechanisms ECF (extended crediting facility) and EFF (Extended financing facility)
Moldova has a three-year programme with the IMF, approved on 29 January 2010. The programme is supported by a loan of 369.6 million special drawing rights (574 million dollars), of which 120 million (about 180 million dollars) has been already disbursed.
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