[Info-Prim Neo article from the series “2011: how it was and how it wasn’t”] The Ministry of Economy has announced that the poverty level in Moldova decreased in 2011. The trade unions see the situation differently. Petru Chiriac, deputy head of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova, said the Moldovans became richer on paper, but in reality it is hard to say. More than 760,000 Moldovans have salaries or pensions lower than the minimum subsistence level. According to statistics, 46% of the population consumed less than the set minimum of 1 550 lei. “Moldova is a poor country with very rich people. The discrepancy in the poor people remained as high – 80% of them live in villages. We have very rich people and very poor people. It is a paradox as the poor Moldova has oligarchs. 20% of the population owns more than a half of Moldova’s riches,” said Petru Chiriac. Analyzing the economic indexes for 2011, Petru Chiriac said the minimum salary remained at the same level as 1-2 years ago – two times lower than the minimum subsistence level. The pensioners are in the same situation. The average prices of food products rose by about 5% on average, while of nonfood products – by 4%. The deputy head of the National Confederation of Trade Unions said that Moldova does not have enough resources to ensure higher salaries and pensions, but has human resources that must be motivated to contribute to a higher state budget by paying consciously the taxes. In the same connection, Adrian Lupusor, expert of the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup”, said that 2012 brings bad news for the public pension fund. “The number of men who will reach retirement will be by about 35% higher than last year. This is the highest rise during the transition period and this points to the increasing pressure on the public pension fund,” said Adrian Lupusor. Alexandru Stratan, director of the Economy, Finance and Statistics Institute working under the Ministry of Economy, said that Moldova in 2011 achieved more results in the economic sector. “The foreign trade saw the highest growth. We broke all the records in this field. The growth in industry was also significant, given the world economic crisis,” he stated. According to Alexandru Stratan, the construction sector and the real estate sector are stagnant, while in agriculture there was no growth, especially because of the weather conditions witnesses this year. “We also face another problem. There are many persons with higher education in our country, who do not have a job and go abroad. The foreign investors have to train ordinary workers as there are no such workers,” he said. Alexandru Stratan voiced hope that the economic situation in the country will improve next year. He said that according to the Institute’s data, an economic growth of 6% is projected for 2012, but the economic sector depends on the financial one and if there is political stability, the foreign investors will be more tempted to invest in Moldova. [Mariana Galben, Info-Prim Neo]