IMF Approves $558 Million Recovery Program For Moldova

The governing board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $558 million loan program to help Moldova recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly $80 million would be released immediately under a program that will last 40 months, the IMF said in a statement on December 21.

"The Moldovan authorities have made commendable progress in rehabilitating the bank sector and bolstering macro-financial stability," IMF Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura was quoted as saying.

"However, the COVID-19 pandemic, drought in 2020, and the ongoing surge in global energy prices have slowed economic activity, intensified downside risks, and complicated policy making."

Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Last month, the country struggled to meet a deadline to pay $79 million to Russia's Gazprom, which had threatened to cut off natural-gas supplies to the country.

In November 2020, Moldovans elected pro-European former World Bank economist Maia Sandu as president on a platform of economic reform and fighting corruption.