The parliament on 4 March adopted a law in the final reading on wooing a foreign loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth up to 152 million dollars to cover the budget deficit, the Finance Ministry's press service has said.
Finance Minister Veaceslav Negruta has said that, after the IMF Board of Directors had approved a new economic programme for Moldova, the government got access to an extended crediting mechanism in the form of foreign credit on 29 January 2010.
At the first stage, Moldova will get 95 million special drawing rights (about 152 million dollars). The credit will be used to support Moldova's economic programme, so as to ensure the fiscal and external stability, maintain the financial stability, reduce poverty and ensure economic growth.
The IMF loan will be repaid in ten equal installments when 5.5 years expire after each drawing of the loan's means. The credit's interest rate is 0.25 per cent annually, but starting from 2012.
Moldpres