Bucharest, July 31 (IANS) Moldova is set to receive a loan worth 37.3 million euros for budgetary support from the World Bank, the country’s parliament said after ratifying the agreement on Wednesday.

The World Bank will also supply Moldova with a grant worth 5 million U.S. dollars. The loan and grant will be paid out in one installment.

The loan has a 29-year maturity and a nine-year grace period and comes with 11 conditions, which Moldova has already fulfilled, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, under another agreement also ratified today, Moldova will receive 10.5 million dollars of non-refundable financing from the World Bank to help meet the state budget’s needs.

This amount will also be disbursed in a single installment once 11 conditions are met, including amendments to the Law on Social Benefits, the Labor Code, legislation of the Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund, and the Law on Competition. The deadline for these changes is June 30, 2026.

Both agreements, signed on July 11, support the Moldova Supporting Growth and Resilience Development Policy Operation Project.

The project aims to improve residents’ access to the labor market, adjust the legal framework for social assistance, align competition and state benefit legislation with EU standards, enhance governance and competition in the energy sector, strengthen the financial system, and promote sustainable forest management and climate commitments.

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Rome, July 31 (IANS) Some 114 million euros (123.4 million US dollars) were stolen through internet frauds in the first six months of this year in Italy, the country’s postal and communication police in charge of cybercrime announced Wednesday.

The figure marked a 71 percent increase compared to the total registered in the country in the same period of 2023.

Overall, investigators uncovered around 14,000 incidents of cyber fraud and other online financial crimes from January to June, representing a 10 percent increase, the police force said, Xinhua news agency reported.

In their annual report issued in December last year, postal police said some 65 businesses of all sizes were among those affected by cyber frauds in 2023. Sums stolen from such companies last year amounted to over 19 million euros, of which 6 million euros were retrieved by law enforcement agencies.

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Jerusalem, July 31 (IANS) Israel launched a state fund that will allocate a total of 155 million U.S. dollars to 18 selected financial entities for investment in venture capital (VC) funds supporting startups, said the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) on Wednesday.

The fund, initiated by the IIA in collaboration with the finance and innovation ministries, aims to support Israeli hi-tech companies, strengthen connections between institutional investors and local VC funds as in leading global markets, and enhance the stability of the local VC market against economic shocks.

The IIA noted in a statement that the fund will significantly boost innovation within Israel’s tech ecosystem.

Major institutional investment entities in Israel submitted applications totaling about 500 million U.S. dollars, Xinhua news agency reported.

Under the program, the IIA will provide matching funding for institutional investments in Israeli VC funds and will waive its share of the returns from the investments to boost the returns for institutional investors.

The IIA will also share investment losses with the institutional entities.

The investment policies also require the IIA not to intervene in the investment decisions of the institutions or the VC fund managers, who will be able to invest the funds, the statement said.

During the first four years following the fund’s investment, institutional entities can purchase the state’s share at an annual compound interest rate of 1 percent, it said.

Additional incentives will be offered to institutional entities investing in VC funds that focus primarily on deep-tech companies, it added.

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Jakarta, July 31 (IANS) Indonesia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiated negotiations for the Indonesia-GCC Free Trade Agreement (I-GCC FTA) at the Trade Ministry here on Wednesday.

The event was highlighted by the signing of a joint statement by Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan and GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi.

“Through the I-GCC FTA, Indonesia aims to strengthen trade relations while opening up mutually beneficial investment opportunities,” the Indonesian trade minister said in his speech, Xinhua news agency reported.

He added that the FTA is expected to boost exports of Indonesian commodities, such as motor vehicles, palm oil, jewelry, coffee, textiles, and electronics.

Jasem highlighted the significant potential benefits of the I-GCC FTA for both Indonesia and the Gulf countries, covering not only trade in goods but also services, customs, trade barriers, and small and medium enterprises.

“We want this trade agreement not only to increase trade figures but also to enhance economic cooperation in other areas. We also aim to open up opportunities for collaboration in new sectors, particularly Islamic economics,” he said.

The GCC is a cooperative group of six countries: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar.

Last year, trade transactions between Indonesia and the GCC amounted to 15.7 billion U.S. dollars, with 6.2 billion dollars recorded from January to May this year.

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Brussels, July 31 (IANS) Yearly inflation in the eurozone is expected to reach 2.6 percent in July, up from 2.5 percent in June, according to preliminary data published on Wednesday by Eurostat.

The European statistics agency said that the price of services is the driving force of inflation, with a year-on-year rate of 4 percent in July, down from 4.1 percent last month. July’s yearly inflation for food, alcohol, and tobacco stands at 2.3 percent, down from 2.4 percent in June. Meanwhile, energy prices recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 1.3 percent in July, up from 0.2 percent in June and non-energy industrial goods saw yearly inflation increase from 0.7 percent in June to 0.8 percent in July.

Countries with the highest inflation include Belgium, with a 5.5 percent inflation rate, Estonia and the Netherlands with 3.5 percent, and Croatia with 3.4 percent. Conversely, the lowest inflation rates were recorded in Finland with 0.6 percent, Latvia with 0.8 percent, and Lithuania with 1.1 percent.

Peter Vanden Houte, a chief economist at ING, called July’s 2.6 percent inflation rate disappointing. This bump in an overall disinflation trend could lead the European Central Bank (ECB) to reconsider cutting rates in September, he said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Noting that the ECB will be scrutinizing the service inflation rate, Vanden Houte explained it is the most domestic rate and very sensitive to wage increases. “Services inflation did come down – but only marginally, to 4 percent from 4.1 percent in June,” he added.

Regarding energy, Vanden Houte noted that the base effect would continue to have a volatile impact during the second half of the year. The inflation rate for energy prices went from negative during the first quarter of 2024 to 1.3 percent in July.

The ECB cannot say yet that the inflation battle has been won, Vanden Houte said. However, based on survey data, he predicted a continuation of disinflation.

Six weeks are remaining before the ECB decides on cutting rates. The ECB left interest rates unchanged at its meeting earlier this month. This followed a major policy shift in June, when it reduced rates by 25 basis points, marking its first cut since September 2019.

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