Political commentators were in for a surprise at the end of 2023, when the parliamentary majority in Chișinău voted the appointment of SRU Senator Anca Dragu as governor of the National Bank of Moldova. A draft decision in this respect was adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova with 58 votes.
PAS majority MPs argued their choice by saying that Dragu has significant experience in the financial and banking sector. They said that this lady’s experience at the National Bank of Romania and the Romanian Ministry of Finance can contribute to the interconnection of the Moldovan banking system to the banking system of the European Union.
Dragu had worked for more than 15 years at the National Bank of Romania and the International Monetary Fund and was minister of public finance in the Cioloș Government. At the time of her appointment as governor of the National Bank of Moldova, Dragu was a senator in the Parliament of Bucharest and held the position of vice-president in the National Bureau of the SRU.
The deputy chair of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, socialist Vlad Batrîncea, was critical of this appointment and demanded criminal liability of the top Moldovan state leadership. “Actions by President Maia Sandu and Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu to appoint a Romanian citizen as governor of the National Bank of Moldova seriously violate national law, and their actions can be qualified as treason” said Batrîncea.
The Presidency of the Republic of Moldova announced that Anca Dragu obtained the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova on December 21, the day before her appointment as governor of the National Bank of Moldova.
In the policy between the Prut and the Dniester, details matter: the dismissal of the former governor of the National Bank of Moldova was made with the support of Moldovan socialists, but it was seen, from the behavior of the socialists, that they participated in the culling of the former head of the national bank without being privy to the whole scenario – the appointment of Ms. Dragu as head of the Moldovan central bank.
The decree granting citizenship was hastily signed. The candidacy was proposed and voted by the majority MPs without expecting the publication of the presidential decree in the “Official Monitor. In a television show, after her appointment, Dragu admitted that she had talks regarding the taking over of the position of head of the central bank of the Republic of Moldova since the summer of 2023.
The parliamentary opposition states that some provisions of Moldovan legislation were not complied with when the appointment was made. The Prosecutor’s Office will decide whether these legal interferences existed.
Questions related to the correctness of the process were raised by the permanent representative of the International Monetary Fund in Chișinău, who sent a press release stating that the hearings and the decision to dismiss the governor The National Bank of Moldova, Octavian Armașu, “happened very quickly, and this fact calls into question whether the correctness of the given process was ensured, namely, conducting professional and legal analysis and evaluation in an appropriate and complete manner”.
The Resident Representative Office of the IMF in the Republic of Moldova mentioned that “the independence of the central bank is a key element of the program supported by the IMF, along with the strengthening of governance and the rule of law in the state. The commitment to the independence of the National Bank of Moldova and the maintenance of this independence, as well as the continuation of efforts to strengthen governance and the rule of law, are therefore essential for the implementation of the program and for the economic stability of the country.”
I believe the noticeable annoyance in the stylistics of the IMF press release is much more important than other assumptions devoted to this unexpected appointment.
It was stated that Anca Dragu’s experience can contribute to the interconnection of the Moldovan banking system to the banking system of Romania, that is, of the European Union. Given that most Moldovan exports are directed to Romania and transactions are made in euros, the interconnection of the Moldovan banking system with the Romanian one, that is with the euro area, offers the Moldovan state the key to some problems it is facing.
The IMF press release states that the commitment to the independence of the National Bank of Moldova and the maintenance of its independence is essential for the economic stability of the Moldovan state. The declaration questions the benefits that a possible interconnection of the Moldovan banking system to the European or Romanian one would bring.
Does the IMF anger actually say that Anca Dragu wants to take Moldova out of the guardianship of the dollar? I wonder. If she manages that, we are dealing with the expansion of the eurozone at the expense of the American currency. For this reason, the lady deserves to be congratulated – the expansion of the euro beyond the European Union border matters for Romania as well.
Beyond the congratulations, I would like the financial philosophy applied by the new head of the National Bank of Moldova to be one that considers the financial protection of Moldovan citizens. Usually, for ordinary people, the transformations in the financial banking system are painful. Extremely painful for the eight hundred thousand Moldovan pensioners.
What do I rely on when I talk about the IMF and the guardianship of the dollar? I’ll explain: The IMF emerged following the Bretton Woods International Monetary and Financial Conference in 1944. The policies promoted by the IMF aimed to liquidate any kind of currency associations, in order to strengthen the position of the US dollar. The global financial system created by the Bretton Woods Agreement, which governs the world economy, is based – at the insistence of the United States – on the US dollar.
The political expansion of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine also means the enlargement of the euro area.
