The city faces an “actual” budget deficit of over 500 million lei, says Mayor Ion Ceban of Chisinau, blaming the central authorities for failing to refund certain expenses.

According to the mayor, these costs include 127 million lei spent on pandemic control and 157 million lei on roadworks. There are also expenses for managing the refugee crisis and the higher energy bills, “in the order of hundreds of millions”.

Ceban went on to add that the draft 2023 budget had been public since December 16, allowing enough time for city councilors to examine it.

According to Ion Ceban, 2023 will be a difficult year for the municipality. Expenditure has increased substantially “because of the actions taken by the central authorities”. The mayor says that he hoped for a collaboration with the central authority, which did not happen, and this “is regrettable”.

Ion Ceban noted that at the end of the year his office left a positive balance of 70 million lei in the budget to avoid payroll problems in January. But this fall’s utility bills amount to over 200 million lei, and this will eventually create a deficit anyway.

The Chisinau Municipal Council today approved in principle the draft municipal budget for next year. Now the councilors are to examine amendments before proceeding to the final reading.