IMF mission to come to Chisinau in early next July to start discussions on new agreement

Chisinau, 9 June /MOLDPRES/ - A mission of the International Monetary Fund, led by Ivanna Vladkova-Hollar, will come to Chisinau on a ten-day visit on 5 July, to start discussions on a new agreement with Moldova.    
The mission “will initiate discussions on a possible programme backed by IMF and will tend to reach an agreement on a comprehensive set of policies, due to help maintain the macroeconomic stability, improve the corporate governance and enhance transparency of the stockholders in the banking sector, as well as to stimulate the sustainable and comprehensive economic growth,” reads a declaration by IMF Resident Representative in Moldova Armine Khachatryan.
The IMF resident noted that “at the end of the visit, the results of the discussions will be informed.” This is the fourth mission of the Fund this year and the first one for negotiating a new programme. A team of IMF experts paid a working visit to Chisinau on 23-27 may 2016. At the end of the visit, the head of the experts’ group said that progress had been made “in formulating a common vision on key issues, such the need to strengthen the governance and settle the problem of non-transparent structure of banks’ stockholders. Nevertheless, some aspects have remained unsolved.”    
Ivanna Vladkova-Hollar encouraged the government to undertake a string of actions preceding the negotiation mission in terms of fiscal policies and structural reforms, according to the government’s press service.
Moldova has not been having a programme with IMF starting from the spring of 2013, when after the agreement signed in 2010 was extended by another three months, Moldova missed its last chance, as it had failed to honour the commitments taken. The Moldovan officials have repeatedly said that Moldova needed a new programme with IMF, which would serve as guarantee for the foreign partners.    
The old three-year economic programme with Moldova was approved by the IMF Board of Governors on 29 January 2010 and was providing for a financial support worth about 570 million dollars, of which 490 million dollars was earmarked. After a Fund’s mission from November 2012, the programme was extended by another three months. Yet, as Moldova failed to fulfill some commitments, against the background of a political crisis from early 2013 and given that laws were passed running counter the agreements with IMF, Moldova failed to get the last installment of 76 million dollars.   
(Reporter V. Bercu, editor M. Jantovan)