The Ministry of Finance’s ambition is to have the law on the unitary salary system in force as of December 1 this year. This way the first salary at the start of next year will be paid in accordance with the new law, Minister of Finance Octavian Armașu was quoted by IPN as saying in the program “Reply” on Prime TV channel.

The minister noted that the new law enables to annually review the salary grades for the whole public sector by reviewing the minimum level. “The minimum level for most of the salary earners next year will be 1,500 lei. According to our calculations, this level in 2020 could be raised to 1,700 lei, in two years to 1,900. The rise will be of 10% each year,” stated Octavian Armașu.

He said that the salary fund is annually augmented by 800,000-900,000 lei. A rise of about 1.3 billion lei will be witnessed next year and the increase in salaries is not something unordinary.

Director of the Market Economy Institute Roman Chircă said the given reform does not ensure a spectacular rise in salaries and does not solve all the problems related to revenues in the public sector. It targets poverty and the huge discrepancy between the highest and lowest salaries in the public sector.

Mihail Lașcu, president of the Trader Unions Federation SINDLEX, said they want decisional transparency to exist on the issue and also the trade unions to be consulted in this regard. “When this consultation is not ensured and we learn about the bill post-factum, it is very hard for trade unions for submit proposals for improving this,” he stated.