Moldova will get another $211 million in budget support from the WB, including a loan of 92.1 million euros (the equivalent of $100 million) and a grant of $111 million.
This is provided for by a financing agreement between Moldova and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (part of the World Bank Group) to implement the "Moldova, Emergency Response, Resilience and Competitiveness DPO 2", the signing of which was approved by the government. Minister of Finance Veronica Sireteanu was authorized to sign the document. The Finance Ministry said that on November 11, 2022 the ministry requested assistance from the World Bank for an additional program of development policy operations in Moldova with a view to stabilize and grow the economy, including implementation of social and economic programs, which are part of the Moldovan government's reform program. After a series of meetings with the competent authorities, the World Bank representatives identified the policies that could be supported by the additional program and submitted to the Ministry of Finance the final version of the Policy Matrix for approval by the responsible institutions, as well as the draft of the aforementioned agreement between Moldova and the IBRD. It contains items regarding the amount of financial assistance, the order of its payment, the conditions that must be fulfilled in order to submit the loan, etc. The new financing program will be offered to Moldova in budgetary support worth $211 million, including a 92.1 million euros loan (equivalent of $100 million) channelled through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a $111 million grant, including $25 million channelled through the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) and $86 million through the Multi-Donor Trust Fund. The loan and grant will be in the form of budgetary support based on actions in the Policy Matrix. The loan has a repayment term of 21 years, including a grace period of 3 years, the interest rate is variable, the commitment fee is 0.25% and is calculated on the outstanding amount, the lump sum fee will be 0.25% of the loan amount. The loan servicing costs are paid from the state budget. In order to receive the money, Moldova needs to implement 8 sub-actions concerning the implementation of the Action Plan to ensure a more secure legal status for Ukrainian refugees and their better integration into Moldovan society, implementation of the Action Plan to strengthen civil protection response and management in emergency situations, including the influx of refugees, taking measures to strengthen poverty reduction, energy efficiency, implementation of energy efficiency policies for public and residential buildings. It is also about amending the legal framework regarding deposit guarantees to increase the coverage of bank deposits and strengthen the fund's ability to guarantee deposits in line with EU requirements for better protection of public deposits, taking measures to improve the legislation for corporate governance of state enterprises by empowering the Public Property Agency to approve the corporate governance code for state enterprises, adopting additional rules to further support the reorganization of the railway sector and harmonization of national legislation with EU standards, facilitating access to digitalization of services for business. The aforementioned financing agreement will take effect after the Moldovan Parliament ratifies it and after all the conditions stipulated in the agreement are met. The financial assistance will be available until May 24, 2024. // 31.05.2023 – InfoMarket
