Limiting Economic Fallout of Pandemic: EU's Micro-financial Aid to Georgia

On Tuesday, the European Commission, within the scope of €3 billion MFA package for ten enlargement and neighborhood partners, signed memoranda of understanding (abbreviated as MoU) on macro-financial assistance (MFA) programmes with eight partners in the EU Neighbourhood. The MFA package is aimed to help the EU Neighbourhood countries limit the economic fallout of the pandemic. These eight countries include Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine – the three states are also Eastern Partner countries for the EU.

For the EU, agreeing and signing the MoUs is an important step towards the first disbursement under the programme, which depends on fulfilling political conditions, according to the EU Neighbourhood website.

For Georgia, in particular, the policy conditions for its €150 million MFA programme relate to strengthening public finance management, improving governance, sector reforms, and labour market policies.

Moldova has a €100 million MFA programme, and Ukraine a €1.2 billion one.

MFA is part of the EU's wider engagement with neighboring and enlargement countries and is intended as an exceptional EU crisis response instrument.

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By Nini Dakhundaridze

Photo: EU