Today, the European Union (EU) has announced it will disburse additional EUR 24 million in grants to support Armenia’s fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU’s decision follows a positive assessment on progress in development of a Mid-Term Recovery Plan (MTRP), macroeconomic stability, public financial management and state budget transparency, in the frame of the COVID-19 Resilience Contract signed between the EU and the Government of Armenia.

This new disbursement of EUR 24 million is part of the European Union’s EUR 92 million response package to the COVID-19 pandemic in Armenia.

This EU assistance announced today is an extra support to the recently disbursed EUR 35.6 million of last month and creates additional fiscal space to implement Government healthcare and anti-crisis measures for vulnerable groups and businesses affected by COVID-19.

“We highly appreciate the EU’s support in these difficult times and extend our gratitude for the EU’s constructive and quick response in addition to the last month’s allocation of  EUR 35.6 million. We firmly believe that it will greatly contribute to Armenia’s recovery from the pandemic, supporting the Government in overcoming the socio-economic hardships resulted by the crisis,” said Mher Grigoryan, Deputy Prime Minister.

“We have already disbursed around EUR 60 million this year in direct grant-based budget support to Armenia to tackle COVID-19 and more is yet to come. Our assistance is expected to help implement important economic reforms, preserve jobs and small businesses and promote inclusive growth in Armenia. The fight against pandemic is definitely not over but we can overcome it only by standing together as one,” said Andrea Wiktorin, EU Head of Delegation.