The financial resources allocated to the local public authorities from the Government’s reserve fund last year were distributed according to political criteria, Viorel Chivriga, expert in public finances, says in the study “Management of the Government’s reserve fund in 2013”, IPN reports.

The study says that 47% of the money was directed to settlements with Liberal-Democratic mayors, 31% – to those with Democratic mayors, while by 4% to those with Liberal and Communist mayors. In the period, the mayors who ran as independents received 6% of all the allocations.

In 2013, for the first time since 2008, the financial resources for the local authorities amounted to 1/3 of the executive’s reserve fund. Viorel Chivriga underlined that this was a conjuncture change, not an essence one, given the biased way the money was distributed.

The local public authorities received over 20 million lei. But the largest part of this sum was approved during the last days of the year. This money was intended for clearing debts for works performed at social, cultural and environment facilities.

Viorel Chivriga said that according to the legislation, the money that does not reach the destination by yearend is automatically directed back to the state budget. Taking into account all the procedures, it was impossible for the approved amounts to be transferred to the local authorities within four days. It should be noted that the measures that can be financed from the reserve fund do not include the payment of debts for works carried out at social, cultural and environment facilities.

The study forms part of the project “Increasing transparency and public control in the management of the Government’s reserve fund” that is implemented by the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), with financial support from Soros Foundation Moldova.