OREANDA-NEWS. February 18, 2010. The Board of Directors of the World Bank made a decision to grant Moldova these funds in late January this year. During the meeting, the Government of the Republic has empowered the Minister of Finance Veaceslav Negruta to sign the loan agreement on additional funding of FISM-II project. The funds will be allocated to Moldova for 20 years with a 10-year grace period under 0,75% p.a.

They are intended to restore socio-economic infrastructure in the rural areas. The additional WB funding for FISM-II project will support the Moldovan Government's anti-crisis program to assist socially vulnerable populations, will create jobs, raise rural population’s incomes and mitigate the impact of the current economic crisis through rehabilitation of the local socio-economic infrastructure.

The second project of the Social Investment Fund in Moldova was initiated in 2004; to date its total cost is estimated at US40 million. Within FISM-I and FISM-II projects in Moldova more than 700 settlements of Republic had received assistance through providing access to the gas network supply, improvement of roads, schools, kindergartens, cultural centers and other social institutions throughout the country.