Economic crisis is influenced by degrading mentality, ex-minister

“The economic problems faced by society, I mean first of all the Moldovan society, are not economic in fact,“ former Minister of Economy, businessman Sergiu Certan said in a roundtable meeting staged by the Ministry of Economy on the Economist’s Day. It centered on the results achieved and chances missed by the Moldovan economy during 20 years of independence,” Info-Prim Neo reports. “Even if all the economists of Moldova and from the diaspora gather together with the best foreign experts in economy and start to optimize something and make improvements, the situation will not change radically. The economic crisis in the world, including in Moldova, derives rather from the degrading mentality rather than from the applied economic instruments and policies. The ideals disappeared. Society does not know where it goes. It is much divided. Everyone fights with everybody and the classical economic models no longer work. We will obtain several more millions of dollars from foreign donors, take some more measures and increase the GDP by 10%. But if corruption is not combated, the division in society deepens and the Moldovans working abroad will not want to return home, will we be happier?” asked the former minister. According to Sergiu Certan, the matters concerning the economic development should be examined in a complex context after studying the experience of other countries. “I read recently that the authorities in Bhutan set the objective not of obtaining economic growth, but of making the people happy. We must not copy what Bhutan does, but should probably identify our own formula. If we want to make progress in economy, we must speak about mentality, morality and goals. If we go out and ask the people where they want Moldova to be in over 50 years, we will have 3 million answers. Some will say that they want in the EU, others in the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union. These are not objectives, but tactics for achieving the goal,” said Sergiu Certan. The ex-minister considers that there should be identified an objective that would be accepted by the entire society. “I think we must talk about the degrading morality. In business, you can work with maximum five out of 100 partners as all the rest are not reliable. The transition to a new type of economic relations changes also the system of spiritual and moral values. What happened in Moldova in this respect is very painful. This is our greatest failure in the 20 years of independence,” said Sergiu Certan.