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In
Russian language
Thursday, June 5, 2003
“Very interesting discussions” in
the framework of cooperation with the IMF
Today the IMF mission is arriving to Chisinau to
continue negotiations with the Government of the Republic of Moldova that were
interrupted in March on conditions for re-launching of external financing.
Yesterday in anticipation of the mission the resident representative of IMF in
Moldova Edgardo Ruggiero met with the journalists.
Edgardo Ruggiero was quite optimistic, however among
undoubtedly positive results of the activity of Moldovan authorities he could
name only increase of the budget revenues. He also mentioned the activity of the
National Bank of Moldova as a good example of a central bank, and activity of
the Ministry of Finance as a good example of proper control. All other results
can be called positive only in relative terms.
Administrative-territorial reform
According to Edgardo Ruggiero the Government should
determine its position about the number of the staff, as there are no exact
figures till now. He called discussion about the cost of transition to the
regions “an interesting one”. Since if a new region is being established, its
administration will have to be at least linked to telephone lines, some premises
should be provided to it, as well as transport and furniture, not forget that it
will need its press. And this has to be done at all levels. “We do not want to
assess whether it is good or bad to transfer to a new administrative-territorial
system. But I believe that 10 judets are sufficient for a small country.” Mr.
Ruggiero added that “the appropriate level of decentralization is a matter that
is decided by government, not by us at IMF”.
Business environment
Unfavorable business environment was one of the reasons for
suspension of IMF mission negotiations with Moldovan Government in March of this
year. Mr. Ruggiero marked that the matter is not only in pre-shipment
inspection, especially since according to him, there has been developed and
submitted to the Parliament a draft that satisfies all the parties. The IMF
representative also mentioned that on April 22 the Government made a special
decision on cancellation of export restrictions. “But we are aware of the fact
that in reality these restrictions still exist. The problem is that we never
know whether there are any administrative restrictions anywhere. We shall wait
for the response of economic entities”.
IMF is also concerned about the law drafted by the
government on amendments to the Law on Patents which introduces new rules for
financial statements and accounting for patent holders. According to Edgardo
Ruggiero, if the draft is adopted in its current version, the share of shadow
economy in Moldova will increase. The IMF representative has also expressed his
thoughts about the system of issuance of certificates of origin “Sometimes
certificate confirms that a good was produced in Moldova, though it was imported
from another country. This refers to sugar and raw leather. At the same time
Moldovan company gets a certificate for Europe, which is illegal.”
Initiatives
IMF is concerned how quickly and easily decisions on tax
issues are made in Moldova without any analysis of the consequences for the
budget. Starting from end-April and in May the Government made several such
decisions that increase budget expenditures, some of them are regardless of the
agreement with the WB and IMF, and some of them “are adopted too quickly”. Cost
of the drafts was calculated in the Ministry of Labor or the Ministry of
Culture, after that the drafts were approved , “and only after they took effect
the authorities start looking for sources of their financing!” The Law on
Veterans of May 8 was given as an example (“of which we learned only after the
holidays”), as well as May pension indexation not consistent with the developed
system of indexation. “Now the Social Fund budget will have to be recalculated
and other expenditures will have to be cut, though they are important as well”.
Health Insurance
Edgardo
Ruggiero learned from the journalists that introduction of health insurance in
Moldova is postponed, nevertheless starting from July 1 enterprises still have
to transfer 2% to the compulsory health insurance fund. “It is an interesting
case, - he commented. – When we heard about introduction of health insurance
last year, we said, please wait, since a lot has to be done for the reform
implementation. But the government insisted on a specific date. It was very
ambitious. Now implementation has been postponed. And I do not know what
economic entities must pay for, if their employees are not going to enjoy health
insurance. When this project was discussed we kept saying: calculate first, as
money is needed for the system to be operational.”
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