March 20 (SeeNews) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is prepared to extend $100 million (93 million euro) in financing to Moldova to help the country reduce the impact of coronavirus on its economy, an IMF official said.
"The IMF is ready to support Moldova through this type of financing. So far no official request has been made, but Moldova's government investigated the possibility of requesting such a support facility," the IMF chief negotiator for Moldova, Ruben Atoyan, said in an interview for Radio Free Europe on Thursday.
According to Atoyan, the coronavirus pandemic poses great problems for states around the world, and Moldova is at risk because its main partners are greatly affected, as many remittances come from Italy, a country strongly hit by the virus. Also, the country has many ties with Russia, which is now dealing with the coronavirus epidemic and lower oil prices.
"Therefore, we believe that for countries like Moldova, the areas that will be most affected are trade, remittances, while the biggest challenges are the lack of financial potential and the effects of the virus on domestic affairs," Atoyan added.
On March 11, the IMF said it is disbursing $20 million to Moldova under the current 40-month funding arrangements approved in November 2016.
The new disbursement came as a result of the progress Moldova has made in keeping its reform commitments and brings total disbursements under the arrangements to support the country’s economic and financial reform programme to about $178.7 million.
($ = 0.9262 euro)