October 21 (SeeNews) - Moldova on Friday dismissed media reports of an alleged link between the timing of an expected approval for a $179 million (163 million euro) loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the Fund's board and the upcoming presidential elections in the country.
"Following information published in media, the finance ministry states that the preparations for approval of Moldova's programme by the IMF board are in the final stage. The calendar remains the same, as technical discussions are ongoing. We expect the date of the IMF board meeting to be announced soon," the finance ministry said in a statement. "We state that there is no connection between the presidential elections in Moldova and the agreement with the IMF. These are two completely independent processes which happened to overlap in time."
The statement followed articles in the local media which quoted an unnamed government source as saying that the IMF had decided to postpone its board meeting, at which it will consider the funding agreement with Moldova, at least until after the first round of the presidential elections which will take place on October 30.
At the end of July, the IMF said it would lend Moldova $179 million under a crucial three-year economic reform programme, for which a staff level agreement was reached. The staff level agreement is subject to approval by IMF executive board, which is expected to meet in October.
Moldova will hold at the end of October its first direct presidential elections in 16 years. The new president will be elected through a universal, direct and secret vote following recent amendments to the constitution that closed the way for indirect election of the head of state by parliament.
The front runners in the presidential race are, according to a recent poll conducted by the Moldova's Public Politics Institute, are Socialist party leader Igor Dodon and Maia Sandu, the recently designated candidate of a coalition comprising extra-parliamentary Action and Security party, PAS, and the extra-parliamentary Dignity and Truth party, DA.
At the beginning of October, the IMF said that Moldova's economy will expand by 2.0% in 2016 and by 3.0% in 2017. In its previous projection made in April, the IMF forecast that Moldova's Gross Domestic Product will grow by 0.5% in 2016, and by 2.5% in 2017.
($= 0.9121 euro)