The authorities should make effort to support the business community and also the health system of Moldova, MP of the Democratic Party of Moldova Ludmila Guzun said in a public debate entitled “Supporting business community: between economy and politics” that was held by IPN News Agency.

According to the representative of the government coalition, the problems in the economic sector become more evident and all the actions should be aimed at supporting the business community, but without neglecting the health sector that is responsible for public health. Also, the needs satisfied with public budget funds should be examined in relation to the possibilities of the public budget.

“I will speak about the measures that were already adopted by Parliament. One of them is the subsidization of interest rates on loans. The arguments provided by the representatives of the Government, the ministry that presented this bill generated many questions, debates, proposals. I speak about the platform through which I took part in discussions – our group’s platform. I said that this is a possibility of providing support at least to a particular number of business entities. I know those arguments that not all the businesses can raise a loan because of the current situation and there is also probably the willingness or unwillingness of some of the business entities to borrow money from banks...”, stated Ludmila Guzun.

She also spoke about the refund of the VAT to business entities, saying this measure will not cover all the businesses. This support is yet intended for 16,000 businesses. The hospitality industry is one of the most seriously stricken sectors. As a result of the adopted measures, the VAT for this industry as from May 1 will be cut from 20% to 15%. This is a stimulating measure.

The Democratic MP noted there are support measures that have been discussed less, like the fact that 50% of the airport charge of €9 will be transferred to the public budget. The sum estimated at 71 million lei will be directed to the Population Support Fund that supports the socially deprived groups.

“I return to that question – is it sufficient or not? It is not as most of the given measures stimulate economic activities. I know very well that specialists of the Ministry of Economy are close to finishing another package of measures that will be submitted to the Government and, I hope, will be ultimately adopted by Parliament so as to supplement the support package intended for businesses,” said the MP.

The debate “Supporting business community: between economy and politics” was the 130th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that are supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.