Finance Minister Compares Moldova to Ethiopia: “Things Aren’t that Bad Here”

Finance Minister Andrian Gavrilita stated that after spending three months living in Ethiopia, he realized that life in Moldova is actually quite good. According to him, Moldovans should remember that there are countries where people work for just $30-35 a month. Speaking on Cinema 1 TV, the minister said that his experience abroad completely changed his outlook on life, bani.md reports. “Only when I spent three months in Ethiopia several years ago did I realize how good things are at home. And how close we actually are to the civilized world and to a very good quality of life – compared to what still exists in other parts of the world. We had that kind of situation more than twenty years ago,” Andrian Gavrilita said. The minister noted that Moldovans should look at current developments “in a global context”, despite the existence of poverty and economic problems in the country. “Let us not forget that there are always people who live even worse than we do,” the official emphasized. He added that citizens should think not about “how to complain”, but rather about “how to make tomorrow better”. Speaking about Moldova’s relations with the International Monetary Fund and a new agreement with the organization, the finance minister stated that the country no longer belongs to the category of states dependent on IMF financing. “We are no longer in the league of countries that depend on such financing,” Gavrilita said, explaining that Moldova now has access to funding intended for investments and reforms. At the same time, statistical data indicate a rise in poverty levels. The absolute poverty rate nationwide increased from 24.5% in 2021 to 33.6% in 2024. In rural areas, the situation is even more severe: the share of the population living below the poverty line rose from 32.8% to 42.9%. In urban areas, the figure increased from 11.9% to 21.6%.