Twice Hit - Badly Wounded: The Devastating Cost of an Inadequate Transformation in Moldova

Moldova holds the unenviable distinction of having suffered the largest fall in GDP and living standards among the former socialist countries in Europe. By mid-1999 GDP had fallen to less than 30 per cent of its level in 1990, while living standards had plummeted from a situation of relative well-being before independence to one of abject poverty. This development has neither been God-given nor the result of particularly bad governance. Indeed, Moldova was for a long time praised by IMF and others as a progressive reformer and 'over-achiever' in terms of macro-economic stabilisation policies. The present study is devoted to an analysis of the economic and political development of Moldova since independence and to the social consequences of the economic collapse. The final chapter discusses the reasons behind the dismal development.