July 27 (SeeNews) - Moldova's cabinet led by Pavel Filip survived on Wednesday a no-confidence vote submitted last week by the opposition over its economic policies.
The vote was backed by 30 MPs of the 101 MPs, data posted on the Parliament website showed. It needed at least 51 votes to pass.
Speaking in front of Parliament before the vote, prime minister Filip said that its main purpose was to stir chaos, instability and to provoke early elections.
The motion was initiated on July 21 by the Socialist Party and was signed by 24 of its deputies, another seven from the Liberal Democratic Party and three from the Communist Party.
In its motives for the motion, the opposition said that the government is incompetent and lacks public support, that it is unable to pull the country out of the economic crisis, and serves oligarchic interests while raising taxes for the common people.
In late May, the Socialist Party tried to submit a no-confidence motion but failed to collect the necessary votes.
Moldova's government led by former IT minister Pavel Filip was sworn in hastily on January 20, right after midnight as thousands of protesters gathered in front of the parliament building with demands for early elections.
Earlier on Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it will lend Moldova $179 million (162.4 million euro) under a crucial for the country three-year economic reform programme, for which a staff level agreement was reached.
"The new ECF/EFF arrangement will first and foremost aim to make swift upfront improvements in financial sector governance and supervision," the IMF said.
The new program will play a catalytic role for unlocking donor support to sustain economic development and rests on two pillars: policies to ensure macroeconomic and financial stability and structural reforms to facilitate growth, it added.
The latest no-confidence motion left Moldova without a government at the end of October 2015, when the cabinet led by PLDM vice-president Valeriu Strelet collapsed. The motion was filed by 42 MPs of the Socialists of the Moldovan Republic Party, PSRM, and the Communist Party, PCRM, who accused Strelet of abuse of power and corruption.
The no-confidence vote came after on October 15, Vlad Filat, leader of PLDM and former prime minister, was detained on suspicions of corruption and complicity in a bank fraud that rattled the economy of the impoverished southeast European country.
In April, the IMF said it expects Moldova's economy to expand by 0.5% in 2016, revising down an earlier projection for 1.5% growth this year. For 2017, the fund sees the country's GDP growth at 2.5%.
Moldova has been trying to cope with a major banking crisis since about $1 billion (907 million euro) went missing from three local banks in November 2014. The banks - Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank were liquidated.
($=0.9093 euro)