August 25 (SeeNews) - Romanian prime-minister Dacian Ciolos said on Thursday that Moldova will get the second tranche of a long promised 150 million euro ($170 million) loan from Romania after the country signs a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"Once there is a decision of the IMF board, we will talk about the date on which the second instalment can be transferred," Dacian Ciolos said during a visit to Moldova.
On Wednesday, Moldova's finance ministry said it received the first tranche, of 60 million euro, of the Romanian loan. The money will be used to finance spending programmes envisaged in Moldova's budget for 2016.
In May, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis approved the disbursement of the loan to Moldova for salaries and pensions, but the transfer of the first tranche was still conditional on a deal with the IMF.
In July, IMF said it will lend Moldova $179 million under a crucial for the country three-year economic reform programme, for which a staff level agreement was reached. The staff level agreement is subject to approval by IMF management and the executive board, which is expected to meet in October, following the authorities’ implementation of a number of prior actions.
Moldova has been trying to cope with a major banking crisis since about $1 billion (882.6 million euro) went missing from three local banks in November 2014. The banks - Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank were liquidated.
($= 0.8826 euro)