The European Commission made Tuesday further disbursements under its COVID-19 Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) package to North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Tunisia. The disbursements of EUR 80 million to North Macedonia, EUR 50 million to Kosovo, EUR 30 million to Montenegro and EUR 300 million to Tunisia are part of the EUR 3 billion MFA package agreed in May 2020 to help ten enlargement and neighbourhood partners mitigate the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Today’s disbursements demonstrate the EU’s solidarity with our partners at a time of unprecedented crisis,” the European Commission said in a press release.
Paolo Gentiloni, Commissioner for the Economy, said: “Today marks another concrete step forward in the fight against the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic with the successful completion of the macro-financial assistance to Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia and the first disbursement to Tunisia. The EU remains more committed than ever to support its neighbours in these difficult times.”
For North Macedonia, this is the second and final tranche of its EUR 160 million MFA programme. North Macedonia has fulfilled the policy conditions agreed with the EU for the release of the second EUR 80 million disbursement under the programme. These included important measures to strengthen fiscal governance and transparency, fight corruption, enhance financial sector supervision, improve the business environment, and tackle youth unemployment.
