GOVERNMENT RAISES GRANTS FOR MIGRANTS FOR OPENING BUSINESS AT HOME

Migrants from Moldova or their closest relatives may get grants up to 250 thousand lei for opening or developing private business within the Program on Attracting Remittances into the Economy PARE 1+1. Before, the maximum allocated sum was 200 thousand.

The raising is provided by the governmental decision, adopted on Thursday at the proposal of European experts within the assistance, provided by the EU-Moldova Association Agreement.

Authors of the draft explain the change with the fact that after the project was launched in 2010, the national leu currency depreciated by 25-30%. As a result, lately, beneficiaries are forced to invest three times more of their own funds per one leu received as grant.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, 346 grant agreements with total worth of 66.97 million lei were signed in 2016, while beneficiaries invested 248.5 million lei in their businesses.

PARE 1+1 Program was launched in 2010 for a period of 5 years, while then the Government extended it till 2018. It is designed for migrant workers and/or their relatives of first degree of consanguinity, who want to invest and/or start their own business. It implies the providing of money for opening or developing personal business in the home country on the basis of 1 leu per each invested leu, but not more than 200 thousand lei.

This year, the budget includes 40 million lei for the program implementation, just as in 2016. Year to date, over 110 financing agreements with total worth of around 23 million lei have already been signed.