Moldova has reached a provisional loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth about $564 million over 40 months.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita said on October 21 that a first tranche of $81 million could be received from the Washington-based lender by the end of this year once IMF management and its board of directors meet in December.
Europe’s poorest country is recovering from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, with economic growth forecast at 4.5 percent in 2021, according to the IMF.
But new waves of COVID-19 infections threaten the outlook, as does the slow recovery in Moldova’s key trading partners, rising energy prices, and potential political instability, the IMF said.
President Maia Sandu, a U.S. trained economist who worked at the World Bank, was elected last year on a pro-Western and reformist agenda, including tackling endemic corruption and poor governance.