The disbursement is part of the € 3 billion emergency Macro-Financial Assista (MFA) package
The European Commission has disbursed € 125 million in Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to help them recover from the economic impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The disbursement is part of the € 3 billion emergency MFA package for 10 enlargement and neighbourhood partners which include Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Kosovo, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, the Republic of Tunisia and Ukraine.
MFA is a form of financial aid extended by the European Union (E.U.) to partner countries experiencing a balance of payments crisis. It is usually disbursed in the form of medium/long-term loans or grants, or a combination of these, and is only available to countries benefiting from a disbursing International Monetary Fund programme.
With this disbursement, the E.U. has successfully completed 5 out of the 10 MFA programmes in the package and has disbursed the first tranches to all partners.
The disbursement of this first instalment follows the agreement and ratification of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the European Commission and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The MoU lays out the specific policy measures that Bosnia and Herzegovina will implement to improve economic governance, financial sector stability, transparency, fight against corruption and a better functioning of the labour market.
Taking it to twitter, the European Commission tweeted,
The EU disburses €125 million to Bosnia and Herzegovina and €50 million to the Republic of Moldova.
— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) October 8, 2021
This is a concrete demonstration of the EU’s solidarity, helping its partners respond to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.#StrongerTogether
The disbursement of the second and final instalment of € 125 million will be subject to the implementation of these policy measures.
In addition to the MFA, the E.U. has already provided € 95 million in grants to Bosnia and Herzegovina to support the country in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In provided € 13.7 million EU4Health grant for vaccines, € 7.76 million to help Bosnia and Herzegovina procure medical equipment and € 73.5 million to support the socio-economic recovery. E.U. has also donated 1.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The proposal to provide MFA to 10 enlargement and neighbourhood partners for recovering from COVID-19 was first proposed by European Commission on April 22, 2020 and was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on May 25, 2020.
Besides, the E.U. also supports the partners in Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans through several other instruments, including humanitarian aid, budget support, thematic programmes, technical assistance, blending facilities and guarantees from the European Fund for Sustainable Development.
