The state will offer subsidies to the citizens for coping with the high electricity and natural gas bills, said Minister of Labor and Social Protection Marcel Spatari. However, according to the official, not all the citizens will benefit from state support as earlier, but only those who are energy vulnerable. The energy vulnerability level will be set depending on the incomes of consumers and the number of family members, IPN reports.
Marcel Spatari noted that a new social protection mechanism is being worked out for offering the citizens assistance in paying the electricity and natural gas bills. The mechanism is a targeted one. This way, the largest subsidies will be paid to citizens with low incomes. The relevant bill is to be adopted by the end of the current parliamentary session.
“The mechanism will be almost the same, which is the subsidies will be included direly in the bill, but assistance will be offered in a differentiated way, depending on the energy vulnerability level. We are creating an information system by which we will collect data about the profile of energy consuming households from citizens. These are data about the incomes of the family, the percentage of the family’s budget that goes on energy, the type of heating. Those who are supplied with heat in a centralized way are more vulnerable than those who have individual heating systems. The number of family members is another criterion. The vulnerability level will be set according to these criteria. There will be six categories of consumers, from extremely vulnerable to non-vulnerable,” Marcel Spatari stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
The minister said the problem of refugees continues being topical in Moldova. Owing to the financial support coming from outside, the Ukrainian refugees benefit from 2,200 lei a month, while the cash assistance for host families was increased.
“Over 11,000 families that host refugees received by 3,500 lei. The second round started now. These families will get by 3,900 lei, while the families hosting more than five refugees will receive over 5,000 lei. It is a program implemented by the World Food Program. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees began to collect information about the refugees. I saw that the refugees are being uniformly distributed in our country and less than half of them are now in Chisinau. Many are hosted by families. Many live in rented accommodations. They need to integrate into society. The National Employment Agency is notified of the employed refugees. About 580 refugees found a job, mainly women as the refugees in our country are mostly female,” stated the minster.
According to official data, over 5 million people had to flee from the war in Ukraine after this broke out. Over 475,000 Ukrainian refugees entered the Republic of Moldova and more than 75,000 of them are now in our country.
