May 31 (SeeNews) - The European Council said that it increased the amount of macro-financial assistance offered to Moldova to a total of 295 million euro ($314.7 million).
The Council nearly doubled the sum of 150 million euro which it agreed to provide in April last year by allotting an additional 145 million euro, it said in a press release on Tuesday.
The money goes towards supporting Moldova's economic stabilisation and the structural reform agenda, supplementing resources made available under the IMF’s financial arrangement. Of the agreed amount, the European Union (EU) will provide up to 220 million euro in loans and up to 75 million euro in the form of grants. The assistance shall contribute to covering Moldova’s balance-of-payments needs as identified in the IMF programme.
It has been considered necessary to increase the EU’s macro-financial assistance provided to Moldova given that there is still a significant residual external financing gap in Moldova’s balance of payments for 2023, over and above the resources provided by the IMF and other multilateral institutions, the Council said.
Moldova was granted an EU candidate status in June 2022.