New budget is more social, analyst

The budget for 2011 is more social as last year, but the capital investments are much higher, by over 20%, said economic analyst Iurie Gotisan, of the Association for Participative Democracy (ADEPT). “In general, the budget is more social, as the previous years in fact. I share the finance minister’s opinion that the social dimension of the budget will prevail for several more years as it is hard to change the resource allocation method. However, the rise in capital investments is a very important aspect,” Iurie Gotisan stated for Info-Prim Neo. The analyst said that more money was allocated to infrastructure – the roads, water supply and sewerage. The foreign backers also invested in this area. According to Iurie Gotisan, the spending on roads represents 6.5% of the total expenditure, which is a lot. Over 1 billion lei was earmarked for education and science. These should be the medium and long-term priorities for an economy that wants to be competitive. Studies and analyses show that if there is no appropriate infrastructure and an education system that produces skilled workforce, the foreign investors do not come to the country,” the expert said. The 2011 budget provides for revenues of 19 billion lei and an expenditure of 20.03 billion lei. The state budget bill was passed by the government coalition in final reading on March 31. The Communist lawmakers voted against.