Ungureanu: Moldova Will Need at Least 12-15 Years to Pay Debts

Debts accumulated by Moldova will have to be paid at the expense of domestic production or savings, but so far they are paid off by new loans, stated economic expert Serghei Ungureanu on January 26 to TV6. He noted that the new loans cause the debts to grow, so the country has to spend more money on interest payments, reports mybusiness.md. “Taking into account the relatively slow economic growth of the Republic of Moldova, which has recently reached 3.5%, and debts that already exceed 27% of the total gross domestic product, we will need 12-15 years just to pay off the debts,” said the expert. Ungureanu stressed that it will be possible to cope with debts during this period only if Moldova does not take new loans. It is worth noting that the internal public debt of Moldova increased by 3.6% in 2022 and amounted to nearly 34.5 billion lei by the end of December, while the external debt for the same period rose by 35.3% to 60.2 billion lei. In the first 11 months of 2022 alone, the Moldovan government received foreign financial aid amounting to 978.8 million euros, of which 80% were loans. Last week, in Davos, Moldovan President Maia Sandu asked the EU for 600 million euros in financial aid for 2023.