IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva (C) and World Bank Group President David Malpass (R) participate in a joint press conference on responses to the coronavirus outbreak at IMF headquarters in Washington, March 4, 2020 Photo: EPA / Erick Lesser
Moldovan Prime Minister Ion Chicu said on television on Wednesday that the country’s public finances were in dire straits due to the pandemic and the country was in desperate need of a new IMF loan to avert disaster.
Since March 17, budget revenues have been cut in half, Chicu said. “If we do a massive lei show, [the national currency], it means inflation, and retirees with pensions of 1,500 to 2,000 lei [equal to 75 to 100 euros] won’t even be able to buy bread. We will not allow that. There’s no point in printing money, ”he said.
The Prime Minister told the NTV Moldova broadcast on Wednesday evening that the state is currently paying pensions and salaries out of money collected by customs services in the first two months of the year, while drawing from US $ 20 million provided. by the IMF in early 2020.
The prime minister said the only hope in this situation was another IMF loan, of around 200 million euros, or 4 billion lei, which he said the IMF could approve at the end of April after the meeting. its board of directors on April 17.
Between November 2016 and March 2020, Moldova received a loan of US $ 178.7 million from the IMF, following the severe crisis caused by the alleged unsolved “grand theft” of US $ 1 billion from the IMF. banking system, which accounted for about 15 percent. percent of the country’s GDP.
The IMF and the World Bank on Thursday announced an aggressive plan to tackle the worst economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in vulnerable countries, mainly the poorest. The plan targets 111 countries in total.
“We are moving forward with a new process that will immediately cancel the debt of the 27 countries facing debt distress. In addition, the 76 countries of the International Development Association of the World Bank and IDA will benefit from full debt cancellation ”, press release says.
However, Moldovan government spokesperson Vitalie Dragancea told BIRN that to his knowledge, “at the moment, Moldova is not on the list of countries that will benefit from debt cancellation” although Moldova is included in the World Bank. IDA program, with Kosovo and other poor countries in Europe.
