The cash transfers to Moldova from countries where there is a relatively low number of working Moldovans, such as Israel, are larger than those from Italy, where the number of Moldovans is ten times higher. At the end of 2017, transfers from Italy to private individuals in Moldova totaled US$ 74.5 million, as opposed to transfers of 106.7 million from Israel. Economic journalist Vlad Bercu explained that a part of the Moldovans who went to Italy settled there and reunified their families and no longer transfer such large amounts as earlier, IPN reports.
In the program “15 minutes of economic realism”, produced by the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul” and Radio Free Europe, Vlad Bercu said that even if remittances amount to billions of dollars (US$1.2bn in 2017), only a part of this money is invested in the economy. In the absence of analyses, it is hard to say how the money received by the population from abroad is spent.
What is known for sure is that a part of the transfers during seven years was invested in 1 136 projects that were supported by the state through the PARE 1+1 program to attract remittances to the economy, with funds totaling 213.4 million lei. Since the PARE 1+1 program was launched, the transfers came to US$9.5 billion.
Vlad Bercu said the cash transfers to private individuals were and will remain one of the growth sources of the Moldovan economy in the medium term. They stimulate consumption and are a source of welfare for the people, even if it is declining. Remittances represented 18% of the population’s incomes in the third quarter of 2014. In the same period of 2017, they decreased to 14.6%.
The economic journalists noted an all-embracing study is needed to find out how the transfers are used and what is happening to the Moldovan communities in different countries.
