Chicu: Thanks to Farmers for Ending Protest and Keeping Order

Prime Minister Ion Chicu expressed gratitude to agricultural producers who completed their protest at the entrance to Chisinau. At a briefing on Friday evening, he also thanked the farmers for “keeping order, not blocking roads, and, to a greater extent, for not following certain politicians who wanted to use farmers for their own purposes,” infotag.md reports. Chicu noted that this way they "fulfilled agreements" reached in the negotiations with the government. The head of government noted that this year the total support from the budget and various funds to the agricultural sector will amount to 1.65 billion lei. “This amount is likely to be increased, as a project is being developed to compensate for drought damage to grain of the second group (corn, sunflower),” he said. Chicu noted that several bills in farmers’ support are being prepared, including those on accumulated VAT reimbursement, farmers and non-banking organizations’ debts to banks restructuring. The Prime Minister stressed that these projects are being discussed with the IMF. Chicu admitted that he "skeptically" looks about the IMF mission approving transferring farmers' debts on loans from banks.