The legislative body ratified the memorandum of understanding between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union on macro-financial assistance in the amount of €100 million for satisfying the country’s budget needs, IPN reports.

The memorandum specifies the conditions that must be met for the assistance to be disbursed. There are six conditionality elements in such areas as business climate, good governance, fight against corruption and management of public finances.

The disbursement of the first tranche is non-conditional, while of the second tranche is conditional upon the progress made in the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, including of six measures related to the business climate, good governance, fight against corruption and management of public finances.

The loan is repayable in at most 15 years. The interest rate on each tranche will depend on the costs at which the European Commission will borrow the money from the international financial market.

The MPs also ratified the framework lending agreement between Moldova and the Council of Europe Development Bank for implementing the Emergency COVID-19 Response and Support for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Project. Under the agreement, Moldova will borrow €70 million, €40 million of which will be intended for the health sector and €30 million for the SMEs.

The loan is repayable in 15 years for the health component and in six years for the SMEs component.