​WORLD BANK WANTS TO BE A "GOOD FRIEND" OF MOLDOVA – ALEX KREMER

The World Bank will provide Moldova with $60 to 70 million per year in the next few years, Alex Kremer, the World Bank Country Manager for Moldova, has said in an interview with the March issue of Profit magazine.

At the same time, the official stressed that alongside with the World Bank's money, what is the most important for Moldova right now is to have a friend.

"By a friend I don't mean somebody who flatters and says that everything is fine. A very good friend is somebody who tells you honestly where there are difficulties that need to be addressed. We want to be precisely that kind of friend," Alex Kremer said.

Asked about World Bank's three key recommendations to Moldova's new government, Alex Kremer pointed to the need to clean up the banking sector, improve the investment climate and fight corruption in every shape and form.

"The banking sector needs a clean-up and it needs it right now. In specific terms, this means that the three banks which are under the National Bank's administration (Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank – Infotag) should be put in a condition where they can never again become a charge to the public budget," Alex Kremer said.

In his opinion, the amounts of money that ordinary Moldovans "have lost through fraud from the three banks are staggering". "Even if I am a trained economist who is supposed to see these things in a very objective way, I cannot help getting emotional about this – to think how much money has been stolen and how much Moldovan citizens are going to suffer because of this," the World Bank official said. He urged the authorities to take measures to make sure that "this never ever happens again in these three banks as well as in any other banks".

The official added that the World Bank has been preparing a budget support operation, stressing that the money will be released to the government when necessary measures to stabilize the financial sector have been put in place. The World Bank will also help Moldova to finance compensations for farmers affected by the Russian embargo and to renovate a number a local roads.