The progress made in fulfilling the electoral promises in economy and the financial sector, formulated in the campaign before the 2010 parliamentary elections, can be considered rather ‘unsatisfactory’. Of the 20 major promises analyzed on the initiative of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT), 11 were delivered in an unsatisfactory way, five - in a satisfactory way, three - in a good way, while one – excellently. Economic exert Adrian Lupusor, who analyzed the electoral promises made in the economic sector, said the political parties overestimated their powers when they made such promises. The detailed analysis is available on promis.md.
In a news conference at IPN, Adrian Lupusor said the problems addressed by the political parties in the electoral period were very complex, which can be solved in time, by the concerted effort of a number of public institutions. There are no institutions in Moldova that can be named ‘champions of change’ in different areas. Most of them prefer a mediocre paradigm of activity.
The SME sector in 2010-2014 remained fragile. Budget transparency was rather low. According to the Budget Transparency Index, calculated by Expert-Grup in 2012, Moldova scored only 51 points of 100, which means that the budget transparency level is low. Compared with 2010, the index decreased by 1 point. The obtaining of authorizing documents remains a major constraint for the private sector, even if promises were made to improve the situation in the field.
Corruption became the key impediment to entrepreneurial activity. According to the Global Competiveness Report, 22% of the company manages classed corruption as the major obstacle, which tops the list of constraints. The problem of economic activity concentration remained an acute one. The Global Competiveness Report for 2014–2015 shows that Moldova ranks 99th of 144 countries by the intensity of local competition, the efficiency of the anti-monopole policy being considered the most serious problem.
Though the Liberal Party, which made 18 of the 20 electoral promises in economy, promised to bring the Moldovan migrants home, the number of Moldovans older than 15 looking for a job or working abroad rose by 21,500 in 2010–2013. The problem of employment of young specialists in rural areas is still an acute one. In the same period, the number of rural young people working or looking for a job abroad increased over two times compared with the rise in the number of working young people from villages.
ADEPT executive director Igor Botan said this analysis will be useful for politicians as well because, before making other promises, they should see first how they fulfilled the promises made earlier. Though the Liberal Party made a lot of economic promises, it didn’t struggle to gain control over the Ministry of Economy, which is now managed by the Democratic Party.
