Moldova’s Public Debt Increase: 25 Thousand Lei of External Debts for Each Citizen

Moldova’s public debt increased to almost 102 billion lei in 2023, i.e. to 5.7 billion dollars. This is almost 7 billion lei more than in 2022. Most of it is external debt. Compared to the end of 2022, in December 2023, Moldova’s public debt totaled 101.5 billion lei. In terms of dollars, this means $5.7 billion, i.e. 32 per cent of GDP. In 2023, the GDP was almost 312.4 billion lei. The total public debt increase took place due to the increase in both external and internal debt. At the end of last year, the external debt reached 63 billion lei, i.e. 18% of GDP. Currently, Moldova’s external debt is 18 per cent of GDP. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Moldova currently has a permanent population of more than 2.5 million people. If we divide only the external debt per capita, there is approximately 25 thousand lei per citizen, compared to 17 thousand lei in 2018.