OREANDA-NEWS. Prime Minister Pavel Filip and the head of the mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ben Kelmanson, at a today’s joint news briefing, unveiled the conclusions of the first mission of evaluating the implementation of Moldova’s Agreement with IMF.

The Prime Minister reiterated the importance of the Agreement with IMF for Moldova, including in order to promote needed reforms, consolidate the national economy and improve the citizens’ living. “We are grateful that, beyond any money, the International Monetary Fund gave us a credit of confidence, which allowed us unlocking the foreign financing and return to good relations with our development partners. Besides the 180 million dollars, provided within the Agreement with IMF, the accord is important for us, as it is thought in the sense of our macroeconomic disciplining.” Pavel Filip said.

For his part, the head of the IMF mission thanked the authorities for the openness and cooperation they had proved in the two weeks during which the evaluation mission lasted. “The experts of the International Monetary Fund and Moldova’s authorities reached an agreement on the first evaluation of the programme of economic reforms backed by the three-year agreement, financed based on the Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility. The IMF Board of Directors will analyze the mission’s report in next April, after Moldova’s authorities implement a string of preliminary actions. After the programme’s evaluation is completed, Moldova will be able to access 15.7 million of special drawing rights, i.e. 21.2 million dollars,” Ben Kelmanson said.

At the same time, the IMF representative noted that the Moldovan authorities had made progress in removing persistent vulnerabilities in the financial and banking sector and in implementing structural reforms. “The efforts made contributed to the re-establishment of the financial stability. The firmly continuation of the efforts to rehabilitate the financial and banking sector, including the improvement of the governance and the financial situation of the commercial banks, as well as strengthening the framework of regulation and supervision are vital for backing the economic growth and creating new jobs,” the head of the IMF mission also said.

At the same time, the PM specified that the present visit was, in general, positive for Moldova. “In continuation, the same solid effort is to be made in order to fulfill the commitments and meet the terms agreed upon with the Fund’s team. We are determined to enforce the measures agreed upon, as they, even if make us leave the area of comfort, are eventually for our benefit,” Pavel Filip said.