​CONTENTS OF IMF MEMORANDUM MAY PROVE TO BE AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE FOR MOLDOVANS – POLITICAL SCIENTIST

Moldovan political scientist Dr. Igor Botan, Chairman of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) said during Monday’s public debates that the contents of the memorandum with the International Monetary Fund may turn out to be an unpleasant surprise for Moldovan citizens.

“Citizens still know nothing about conditions of the potential agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Judging by authorities’ behavior, certain conclusions can be made. I do not think that in the current very difficult economic situation it would be appropriate for authorities to start reforming central and local public administration bodies, or the pension fund, as these are very difficult processes”, Botan said.

According to him, the authorities are suffocated already; still they are announcing very difficult reforms, which have not been conducted for many years.

“To understand where we are going and which reforms will be implemented, we should find out the contents of this document – the Memorandum with the IMF. It may become an unpleasant surprise, as the authorities, driven into a corner, will be forced to agree with the toughest conditions. Maybe, we will be informed about provisions on optimizing budget expenditures and the pension fund”, the political scientist said.

According to him, the authorities do not have freedom of maneuver; they are forced to accept any IMF conditions in order to sign the memorandum.

“The fulfillment of conditions will become the price of crisis overcoming, while for these reforms, the authorities will have to pay by their withdrawal from politics. The current ruling party and its coordinator needed to clean the political scene from people they have transformed into scapegoats. Thus, they did not have time to conduct reforms and negotiations with the IMF. Now they concentrated all the power in their hands, but they have to conduct very difficult reforms”, Botan said.