As at 31 August 2026, the country’s total liabilities reached 147.73 billion lei (approximately $8.55 billion), having increased by 14.95 billion lei since the start of the year. According to the Ministry of Finance, the rate of debt accumulation has accelerated 3.4-fold compared with the same period last year.
The main economic event of the reporting period was the crossing of a historic milestone: the country’s external public debt exceeded the $5 billion mark for the first time in history, standing at $5.18 billion (89.53 billion lei). From January to August, external debt rose by 8.75 billion lei.
The pace at which these thresholds are being breached is also accelerating. It took more than two years for the debt to rise from the $2 billion mark (July 2020) to $3 billion (December 2022). The country crossed the $4 billion threshold in December 2024, whilst it took just over a year and a half for the debt to rise from $4 billion to its historic high of $5 billion.
The August surge and its causes
The sharpest increase in the debt burden occurred at the end of the summer. In August alone, total public debt rose by more than 4.8 billion lei. The Ministry of Finance explains that the key factor was a major inflow of funds: the country received a budget support tranche from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) amounting to around 218 million euros.
Domestic public debt also showed an upward trend, increasing by 6.21 billion lei since the start of 2026 to 58.2 billion lei. This growth was driven primarily by the issuance of government securities on the domestic market.
Domestic debt costs the budget considerably more than external debt. In the first eight months of the year, expenditure on servicing domestic debt alone (payments on government securities) exceeded 2.7 billion lei, which is already more than was spent on these needs for the whole of last year.
The cost of servicing debt and the debt burden on the economy
As of today, Moldova’s total public debt stands at 38.1 per cent of the country’s projected gross domestic product (GDP), which is expected to reach 388 billion lei by the end of 2026. By way of comparison, at the end of 2025 this figure stood at 37.4 per cent.
Rising borrowing levels are placing a heavy burden on the budget. According to estimates by sector analysts, in 2026 alone Moldova will spend around 6.5 billion lei on servicing its existing public debt, and in 2027 this figure could rise to 7.5 billion lei. Expenditure on interest payments and loan administration is becoming comparable to the funding of entire sectors of the national economy.
Under the State Budget Act, the ceiling for Moldova’s total public debt at the end of 2026 is set at 156.04 billion lei. Consequently, the government retains a reserve for new borrowing of just over 8 billion lei until the end of this year.
The republic’s largest international creditors remain the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which accounts for 25.4 per cent of external debt, and the European Union (18.5 per cent).
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.
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