Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to coordinate efforts of funding Moldova

Chisinau, 30 March /MOLDPRES/- The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will coordinate the efforts of financing Moldova by the European Commission, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and World Bank within a common programme. OECD Deputy Secretary-General Douglas Frantz made statements to this effect at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Economics Minister Octavian Calmic on 29 March.

According to the Economics Ministry’s press service, the main topic of the meeting was focused on the Moldova-OECD cooperation in 2016 in policies on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Calmic noted that the main challenge for the Moldovan authorities was presently to ensure implementation of the worked out policies, completed with a systematic monitoring and evaluation process, as well as facilitating the business environment’s access to financing.

Octavian Calmic pointed out that, to consolidate SMEs’ competitiveness and benefit from advantages offered by the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), the government had committed to settle remaining problems faced by the SMEs, as well as restrictive regulations in the customs sector, technical barriers to commerce, permits and licenses, abusive controls on behalf of regulatory institutions. “Last but not least, the authorities are working to remove difficulties in getting access to financing, identify alternative sources of funding and develop assistance in business infrastructure”, Calmic said.

“Just as other other countries of the region, SMEs’ access to financing in Moldova is dominated by bank credits, which currently are not advantageous, because of the crisis in the system. In addition, there is an acute shortage of foreign funds and internal resources. In these conditions, we rely on an agreement with the International Monetary Fund till next June and unlocking of foreign financing, to continue the programmes underway”, the deputy prime minister said. 

For their part, the OECD representatives expressed support for the Moldovan government in implementing policies for improving the business environment. They underlined that the development of assistance in business infrastructure and stimulating initiatives for competitiveness, innovation, internationalization would help SMEs from Moldova cooperate at the EU level via DCFTA.

At the end of the meeting, Douglas Frantz informed Octavian Calmic about a visit by a OECD mission to Chisinau in next mid-April, in order to present the index of SMEs policies in Moldova.

(Reporter A. Mardare, editor A. Raileanu)