Moldavia does not want to pay off its gas debt to Russia in shares of its enterprises

The Moldavian Minister of Energy considers it impossible to give the shares of the enterprises of country's energy complex in paying off the debt for natural gas, because this is the debt of the concrete economic entity - Moldova Gas.

Apart from that, according to Moldavia's commitments before the IMF and the World Bank, the enterprises of the republic may be privatised at open investment contests for monetary means.

The debt of Moldavia to the Gazprom for the gas it has received amounted to 121,095,000 US dollars as of July 1, 2003, and the debt de facto of the self-proclaimed republic of Transdniestria equals 483.7 million dollars.

In the spring of 2003, deputy chairman of the Gazprom board Alexander Ryazanov said that the Russian gas holding company was interested in receiving the shares of a number of industrial and energy enterprises of the republic as a payment for the gas debt.