Representatives of the Office of Cooperation Coordination for Development within the Embassy Austria to the Republic of Moldova propose a model of Moldovan-Austrian financial cooperation within Austrian scheme of soft loans. The subject was discussed today during an official meeting at the Ministry of Regional Development and Constructions (MRDC).
Rudolf Lukavsky, Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy presented funding possibilities for our country in the fields of public health, education, public transport, water and sanitation, by providing soft loans by the Government of Austria and stated that the benefit of these loans is an interest rate of zero percentage points per year and the grace period of 4 years. At the same time, the Austrian side affirms that through this funding scheme may be offered loans of up to 100 % of the project’s value, and the only condition is that 50 % of the project’s value, expressed by services or products, to be of Austrian origin.
The guests mentioned that this could be the method of funding regional development projects related to water supply and sanitation of country’s localities.
In this context, Victor Zubcu, Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Constructions said that the MRDC will analyse the main characteristics of concessional lending to observe the legal possibilities of financing projects in our country. The Deputy Minister noted that this mechanism could be provided for the construction of social housing, where credit lines will be offered for a period of up to 20 years, with a grace period of five years and interest rate 0 %.
In the context of financing regional development projects, Valerian Binzaru, the Head of General Directorate of Regional Development explained to visitors the regional development process in our country, what is the selection procedure of projects and what are the main sources of funding, including who are the beneficiaries.
Finally, the parties agreed to identify, shortly, the priority projects of Local Public Authorities, who would be interested in applying for soft loans.
