Moldova has asked the World Bank for more grants and the WB said it will continue to help promote reforms and will develop a new partnership strategy with our country.
The statement was made at a meeting that Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita held in Washington with the President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass. During the dialogue, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita asked the World Bank to provide the flexible grant funding needed to support the population during the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, the government press service reported. At her meeting with David Malpass, the officials discussed possibilities of allocating additional financing for next year, speeding up the implementation of projects in agriculture, energy and infrastructure, as well as the support needed for Moldova's structural reforms. Prime Minister said that Moldova remains firmly committed in the reform process in key sectors, despite all the crises and that in order to carry out these reforms, it is important that the country has access to more flexible financing instruments, so that the existing projects are implemented as soon as possible for the benefit of the citizens. "We continue to take all necessary steps to ensure that this crisis, which exists worldwide, will affect our citizens less. We stay with the citizens in this difficult period and count on assistance in the form of grants to manage the risks that are caused by external factors, such as the military conflict in Ukraine," Natalia Gavrilita said. At the same time, Prime Minister praised the World Bank's openness to assist modernization and transformation of priority areas, referring to the ongoing projects in health care, education, agriculture and regional infrastructure. At the same time, Prime Minister said that, given the current vulnerability of the energy situation in Moldova, the projects of energy interconnection and those meant to improve the quality of thermal energy supply services will gain more importance. The sides also discussed measures to reduce inflationary pressures, to ensure food security, as well as the importance of promoting exports to the EU market in order to redirect the affected trade. In this context, David Malpass said that the World Bank will remain a reliable partner of Moldova, able to make a significant contribution to overcome the present difficulties, as well as to promote lasting reforms. In the near future, a new strategy of partnership between the World Bank and Moldova will be worked out. // 19.07.2022- InfoMarket.
