Moldovan government backs draft 2023 budget with 6% deficit

KYIV (Reuters) - Moldova's government on Wednesday approved the main indicators of the 2023 state budget, forecasting economic growth of 2%, inflation of 15.7% and a deficit of 6% of gross domestic product.

Moldova, a country of 3.5 million people, has said previously that it expects its economy to shrink 3% in 2022 and that the deficit will be 5.4% of GDP while inflation could reach 29.1%.

The budget must later be approved by the parliament.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas; writing by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Toby Chopra)