The financing of the defense sector during the last few years wasn’t a priority on the national development agenda. After 2009, the sums allocated to this sector decreased suddenly, shows a study of the expenditure on defense in 2000-2014 carried out by the think tank “Expert-Grup”, IPN reports.

According to the experts, this tendency continued until 2014, when the security situation in the region worsened unexpectedly. Consequently, in 2015 Moldova ranked last in Central and Eastern Europe by the share of spending on defense in the Gross Domestic Product.

The study shows that amid the current budget constraints, the funds allocated for building the national defense are not used in the optimal way. During the last decade, the reformation of the national defense sector wasn’t completed and the strategic programing documents for planning the national defense for a long period of time weren’t finished either. As a result, the structure of the National Army remained outdated and wasn’t adjusted to the new security realities and financial constraints.

To remedy the situation in the field, “Expert-Grup” recommends to gradually increase the allocations for defense up to the regional average. According to Iurie Morcotilo, economist of “Expert-Grup” and one of the authors of the study, given that 10% of the territory is not controlled by the central authorities, while the security situation in the region worsened significantly, it is imperative to change the attitude to the national defense and to stimulate the development of this sector.

“Expert-Grup” also recommends working out strategic defense documents. The structure of the National Army must be reviewed and adjusted to the financing possibilities so as to reorganize the components that have a minimum contribution to the national defense, but consume significant financial resources.

The experts also recommend increasing the capital investments in the national defense and budget transparency in this sector.