Moldova Emergency Response, Resilience, and Competitiveness DPO2

closed

In this context, this Development Policy Operation (DPO) aims to help the authorities to: (i) increase support to refugees and households, and (ii) build resilience and enhance competitiveness to reduce vulnerabilities to future shocks. The operation is aligned with the World Bank Group (WBG) Global Crisis Response Framework (GCRF). This operation is part of a package of coordinated financial assistance to Moldova from international partners prepared in response to the ongoing socio-economic emergency. This package of coordinated financial assistance includes the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and the European Union’s (EU) Macro Financial Assistance (MFA), together with budget support from the Directorate-General for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), the Agence Française de Developpement (AFD), and the World Bank, with parallel financing to this operation expected from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The proposed operation is expected to benefit from US25 million dollars in concessional financing from the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) to support the authorities’ efforts to deal with the refugee crisis. In recognition of the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including the country’s increased energy vulnerability and its generous hosting of refugees, the World Bank has also established a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) for Co-financing of the Moldova Development Policy Program (TF073849). To date, contributions to the MDTF have been received from the United States, Norway, Ireland, and Sweden. The MDTF already provided the grant financing of US43.76 million dollars through the Supplemental DPO approved on December 2, 2022 and is expected to provide an additional US9.3 million dollars in grant financing through this operation. Development partners expressed interest in continuing the support of the Moldova MDTF, with indicative uncommitted contributions of US97 million dollars to be channeled through the DPO series.