Parliament adopted in the first reading amendments to two laws concerning the attraction of external foreign loans from the International Monetary Fund following the augmentation of the financial assistance for the country, IPN reports.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on May 11 approved an augmentation and rephasing of access under the Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility Arrangements for the Republic of Moldova. Total access under the blended 40-month ECF/EFF arrangements approved in December 2021 was increased by about US$260.11 million (SDR 194.26 million) to about US$795.72 million (SDR 594.26 million).

The two loans will be used to cover the urgent needs to finance the balance of payments following the negative shocks, including the war in Ukraine and the international sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus.

The bill to amend the law on the attraction of the external foreign loan from the IMF and the bill to modify the law on the attraction of the external foreign loan from the IMF are to be adopted in the second reading.

The Special Drawing Rights (SDR) is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves.  The SDR serves as the unit of account of the IMF and other international organizations. The SDR is neither a currency nor a claim on the IMF. Rather, it is a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of IMF members. SDRs can be exchanged for these currencies.