MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT, IMF MISSION DISCUSS POSSIBLE CHANGES IN COOPERATION PROGRAM

President Igor Dodon discussed with the International Monetary Fund expert mission the possibility of revising a number of agreements with the Fund, which were achieved by the Government within the mission’s previous visit to Chisinau in mid-summer.

The head of state wrote on his Facebook page that he expressed to the Mission specialists the Moldovan president’s opinion on the most important aspects of country’s cooperation with this financial organization.

Dodon confirmed the Moldova’s readiness to continue cooperation with the IMF after the expiry of the current program in case of fulfilling certain conditions, directed to economic development, raising the level of social protection of population and real strengthening of the public finance system.

“Moldova needs financial support from the side of traditional partners; we will be seeking possibilities for extending the geography of potential donors at the institutional or bilateral basis, but the main focus will be made on internal policy, aimed at economic development, extension of tax basis and raising the investment attractiveness, given the country interests”, Dodon stated.

At the same time, he pointed at a more reserved position in relation to a number of fiscal measures, promoted within the current program.

“We criticized some positions. In particular, this concerns the changes of tax legislation for the HoReCa sector – in our opinion these measures may harm the perspectives of developing a branch which is strategic for Moldova – tourism. We suppose that the measures, adopted in this direction, must be revised without damage for relations with the IMF. With all this, the Government and the president’s team will continue discussing this issue. I confirmed our firm position on preventing the raising of taxes and tariffs, as such actions damage the economic growth, contribute to outflow of population from the country and do not bring the expected positive results”, the president wrote.

He wrote that in the nearest time a package of initiatives, directed to contribution in developing this branch, will be launched, as well as informed about the intention to launch a package of economic measures aimed at contributing to Moldova’s economic growth.

Dodon informed the mission about social projects, recently proposed by him. In particular, it is about indexation of pensions twice a year, on ensuring guaranteed period of receiving pension and raising of the number of beneficiaries from assistance for heating in winter period.

“These projects were submitted to the Parliament and received unanimous support of MPs in most standing committees, while the intention to ensure a higher level of social protection for most vulnerable segments of population was supported by the IMF”, Dodon wrote.

IMF Mission Head Ruben Atoyan stressed that at the September 20 sitting the Fund’s Board of Directors approved the extension of program with Moldova till March 2020.

“The discussion on Moldova lasted an hour. This proves that the interest to this country is high, the support is considerable and there were many details to be discussed”, Atoyan said.

The mission, which was working in Moldova during a week, concluded its visit on Tuesday. In particular, it conducted assessment of the process of budget planning for 2020 and discussed the cooperation perspectives after the program concludes in March 2020.