Government satisfied with level of economic growth

The Government’s objective of single-digit inflation in 2008 is achievable, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Trade Igor Dodon said. At the Government’s meeting on November 5, he said that all the measures have been taken to maintain macroeconomic stability. For the first time in Moldova, the inflation for the past 12 months – October 2007 – October 2008 – was 9.8%, said the Senior Deputy Prime Minister, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. “The preliminary reports regarding the fulfillment of the budget in the first ten months of this year show that all the projections were exceeded by 5%. The world financial crisis did not affect the collection of revenues into the budget,” Igor Dodon said. According to the minister, the Government employed a series of mechanisms for regulating the profit margin on a number of products of social importance. These market mechanisms do not hinder the economic entities and, as a result, the prices of meat, vegetable oil and some of the vegetables decreased slightly at end-October. The exchange rate oscillates between 10.2 and 10.6 lei per dollar, which points to stability. As regards the leu-euro fluctuations, these are the result of the perturbations on the world financial markets. The National Bank of Moldova does not have instruments for influencing the leu-euro parity. Dodon also said that exports over nine months rose 30%. The industrial and agricultural outputs are on the rise. The average salary in the economy over January-September 2008 increased by 25% compared with the corresponding period last year. The average salary in 2009 is projected to reach 3,140 lei, mainly due to the rise in the salaries of budget-paid employees, the official said.