Moldova’s Most Profitable State-Owned Enterprise Provided a Loan to Moldova Railway

The National Lottery of Moldova granted a loan of 35 million lei to the Moldova Railway to pay off salary arrears to its employees. This was revealed by Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spinu in a programme on TV8. “There is a legal mechanism between state-owned companies. Loans can be granted by decisions of the councils and the Public Property Agency. Just to be clear, we promised in February that we would close 2023 fiscal year by the end of March. That was our promise. We took out a loan, and we paid off the debt. There are two or three million left before the December closing,” Andrei Spinu said. The minister did not specify the loan conditions. However, he said this week the new interim head of the Moldova Railway had already proposed a new anti-crisis plan and taken cost-cutting measures. “We are working on obtaining a new loan to pay off salary arrears for January-February. It is possible that the company will be able to increase transport volumes and, consequently, to pay salaries,” Spinu noted. On the other hand, Andrei Spinu states that right now Moldova Railway is no longer accumulating debts and about 6,000 employees will continue to receive remuneration from the railway’s operation. The authorities expect an increase in the volume of goods transported by railway. It should be noted that Moldova Railway has been facing serious financial problems for several years, and former director Oleg Tofilat has said that without the state’s help the enterprise has no chance to survive. By the way, previously such loans have already taken place between state-owned companies. In 2018, the state-owned company Air Moldova received state aid in the amount of 75 million lei granted to Chisinau International Airport Ltd. Without this money, the company may have ceased its operations. However, this aid only delayed the bankruptcy of Air Moldova. Thus, in October 2019, the state sold Air Moldova, and last year the company became insolvent. As for the National Lottery of Moldova, over the last three years it has registered an impressive growth in revenues and profits, becoming the most profitable company in the country.