Moldovan government holds meeting

Chisinau, 20 July /MOLDPRES/ - The cabinet of ministers led by Prime Minister Ion Chicu held a meeting today. The government approved more drafts, meant to provide support to economic agents, including the farmers who recorded losses because of the weather conditions, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.  

The cabinet members approved a draft on subsidized insurance in agriculture. It sees the increase in the level of subsidization of the insurance premiums from 50 to 70 per cent. The project will extend the field of action of the law through providing possibilities of subsidized insurance not only of the quantity, but also the quality of the harvest of agricultural crops. The budget necessary for covering the subsidized quota of insurance premiums for 2021 is estimated at about 3.5 million lei, for 2020 – about 4.1 million lei, for 2023 – about 5 million lei and for 2024 – about 6 million lei.    

As much as 5.5 million lei will be allocated from the government’s Intervention Fund to the settlements hit by natural calamities. The money will be used for the re-establishment of local roads, repair of a kindergarten, as well as compensation of damages of private households. 

The cabinet approved the ratification of the agreement with the government of Japan on economic cooperation, signed in Chisinau on 29 June 2020. Under the agreement, Moldova will get a grant worth 43.7 million yen for the implementation of the project on digitalization of the National Library.     

The government approved the signing of the framework agreement on loan between Moldova and the Council of Europe Development Bank for the carrying out of the project, Emergency Response to COVID-19 and Support for Micro-, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises. The project’s value is 70 million euros, meant for the financing of two components: health – with a budget of 40 million euros and support for Micro-, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises - 30 million euros.    

The financial means will allow purchasing medical equipment and consumables, rehabilitating and modernizing medical units, in order to ensure measures of emergency response to COVID-19. Also, financing will be provided to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hit by the crisis for working capital and needs of investments, helping them preserve the jobs. The deadline for the disbursement of the means stipulated in the agreement is 30 June 2022.    

The government approved reports on the carrying out of the 2019 state budget, mandatory health insurances accounts for 2019, social insurances budget for 2019. ‘’Despite the destabilization of the political situation last year, two electoral campaigns, the country proved budgetary sustainability. The initial budget deficit indicators were eventually much better of 1.44 per cent against 2.5 per cent. The 2019 year was the first year of implementing the fiscal reforms and the new law on salary payment in the public sector, with significant salary increases. Despite all these factors, Moldova successfully finished the 2019 year, with budget revenues +3.5 billion lei, more than in 2018, with a diminution of the state debt by two percentage points and balances in accounts of the national public budget of almost 5 billion lei,’’ the prime minister said.    

Note: The report on the carrying out of the 2019 state budget shows revenues amounting to 39.9 billion lei and expenses worth about 43 billion lei, with a deficit of 3.1 billion lei. As for the implementation of the mandatory health insurances accounts in 2019, revenues worth 7.6 billion lei and expenses of 7.5 billion lei were registered, with a surplus of 146.7 million lei. The carrying out of the state social insurances budget in 2019 was recorded with revenues of 21.7 billion lei and spending amounting to 21.6 billion lei, with a surplus of 146 million lei.