The Republic of Moldova will get a €52.9 million loan provided by the International Development Association for implementing the COVID-19 Emergency Response Project. The bill to ratify the financing agreement was approved by the Cabinet on May 13, IPN reports.

The money will go to purchase protective equipment, test kits for identifying the infection and ambulances, to train specialists, etc. The loan will start to be repaid on October 15, 2025 and is to be fully repaid by April 15, 2050.

The Government also approved the 2020 national action plan for implementing the national employment strategy for 2017- 2021. The plan contains support measures for different categories of unemployed people and for companies affected by the pandemic. An additional sum of 10 million lei is allocated for the purpose. Also, 168 million lei is allocated additionally for increasing the unemployment benefit to 2,775 lei for the current recipients and for persons who register as unemployed during the state of emergency, even if they do not meet the criteria for being classed as jobless. The plan will be implemented at a total cost of 1.508 billion lei.