Moldovan government approves 30-per cent increase in salaries of medical employees, sets way state assistance is distributed to farmers

Chisinau, 31 July /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Ion Chicu chaired a cabinet meeting today, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.

In the beginning of the event, the PM expressed concern about the increase in the number of infections with the new-type virus and informed about restrictions imposed by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission (CNESP). ‘’We have an alarming situation at the leisure places. The agglomeration is big and the anti-epidemic rules are not observed. For this reason, CNESP ruled that, starting from 1 August, the activity of swimming pools be ceased on the entire period of the emergency state,’’ Ion Chicu said.

The cabinet members approved the 30-per cent increase in the office salaries of the medical employees involved in the mandatory health insurances system starting from 1 September. The draft sees also a 30-per cent growth of the salaries of ambulance drivers from the emergency medical assistance service. Therefore, 42,900 people will benefit from salary increases.    

Health, Labour and Social Protection Minister Viorica Dumbraveanu unveiled a draft which sees extension of the list of medical services provided within the single programme of mandatory health insurances. Thus, at the expense of the insurance policy, the tests for determining the SARS-Cov-2 virus and the antibodies to the coronavirus could be made too.  

The participants in the meeting voted also the regulation which envisages the way of providing and distributing compensations for diminishing the risks of the natural calamities on the 2020 year harvest. Under the document, the state assistance will be provided to farmers whose farmlands sowed with first-group cereals, hit by drought, and horticultural crops, affected by hail, were compromised at the level of more than 60 per cent. The payment of the 100 million lei, allocated from the Subsidization Fund for the partial compensation of the losses borne by farmers, is made through the Agency of Intervention and Payments for Agriculture (AIPA).  

To back the entrepreneurial activity, in order to attenuate the negative effects triggered by the epidemiological situation on the economy, the participants in the cabinet meeting ruled to extend the term of enforcing the mechanism of subsidization of enterprises and non-commercial organizations, which established technical unemployment or standing, till 31 August. As much as 31 million lei has been allocated so far to 301 economic agents. At the same time, the term of payment of the single unemployment benefit was prolonged till 30 November 2020, for the beneficiaries who, for various reasons, had no possibility to take this benefit.

The participants in the meeting also decided to initiate negotiations on a draft agreement between Moldova and Russia on the providing of a state loan worth 200 million euros to Moldova’s government. Finance Minister Serghei Puscuta was appointed head of the delegation. Puscuta will also have the mission to sign the documents relevant for the concerned negotiations and initial the text of the aforementioned agreement.  

At the same time, the cabinet members approved the agreement on loan between Moldova’s government and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. The agreement’s goal is to provide Moldova’s cabinet with a preferential loan worth over 18 million dollars, in order to implement the Modernization of agricultural technology and equipment project. The loan is given for 40-years repayment period, an interest rate of 0.1 per cent and a grace period of 12 years.    

The cabinet of ministers approved a draft law, which sees the ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding between Moldova and the European Union on macro-financial assistance. The document regulates the list of conditions which are to be fulfilled for the disbursement, in two equal installments, of the resources of loan worth up to 100 million euros. The disbursement of the first installment is non-conditioned, while the second installment will depend on the progress made in the implementation of the bilateral agreement.    

Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Minister Ion Perju presented the plan of management of risks of floods, carried out with the support of the Austrian Development Agency and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The plan, which comprises a string of measures for a term of 6 years, provides for the diminution, for 2020-2025, of the risk of floods through the construction of 70 km of protection dam and maintaining 500 km of dam in zones identified with high risk of floods, afforestation of 15,000 hectares of areas, elaboration in detail of maps of hazard and risk of floods, inventorying the present dams, etc.     

The cabinet members voted also the extension of the mandate of the EUBAM Mission by three years, till 30 November 2023, through approving the starting of talks and signing the agreement between Moldova’s government, the European Commission and the Ukrainian government.     

The government also ruled to allocate to central and local public authorities needed financial means from the cabinet’s Intervention Fund for providing single allowances to the employees infected with COVID-19 while exercising the job duties.

In the end of the meeting, the PM asked decision-makers of the Economics and Infrastructure Ministry to attentively monitor the infrastructure projects underway and ensure the quality of the works carried out.