The rise in prices of raw material, the drought, the global inflation tendencies and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are overlapping crises that hit also the Republic of Moldova in 2022. Their effects will have a direct impact on the population’s living conditions. In 2023, the number of poor persons will increase, shows the State of the Nation Report 2022 presented by the Independent Think Tank “Expert Grup”, IPN reports.

Report co-author Alexandru Fală, director of the program “Macroeconomy, forecast and economic modeling” of “Expert-Grup”, said the number of poor persons will rise. The citizens who live on 54 lei a day will be by about 1/5 higher. The purchasing power decreased by 10%, but there is a positive trend as regards pensions. The real salary declined suddenly, but the pensions in 2022 will grow by 4%”.

The expert noted that this year the Government cannot avoid proposing population support policies. “We see a 1% decline in consumption. The subsidies provided by the Government have a positive impact. As the Government offers subsidies, it will have to borrow money. The external financing formula probably needs to be changed so that we have more grants than loans,” stated Alexandru Fală.

Minister of Labor and Social Protection Marcel Spătari said the Government’s decisions in these turbulent times haven’t been at all easy.

“The people are and should be in the center of state policies. The state plays the role of protecting and of providing an equitable solution. It is yet very hard for the state to take such decisions. In the next period, the state will have fewer resources than obligations. And we will have to see how the state can set the priorities. Painful, but necessary arbitration will be needed in this case,” stated Minister Spătari.

Sergiu Sainciuc, deputy chairman of the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova, said the authorities tried to do their best to maintain the incomes. He welcomed the authorities’ readiness to standardize the minimum official salary, which next year will be 4,000 lei in the public and private sectors.

“For the first time, an extraordinary decision was taken for 2023, when all the public sector employees will benefit from a pay rise of 1,300 lei. This is social equality. We will later return to this issue,” stated Sergiu Sainciuc.

The State of the Nation Report was produced by the Independent Think Tank “Expert Grup” and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung  (FES) Moldova.