The investments made in road infrastructure in 2019 came to over 4 billion lei, but next year the Chicu Government plans to spend more than 6 billion lei on road building and reconstruction. According to Minister of Finance Sergiu Pușcuța, the rise is of about 50%.

“In general, the investment component of the budget constitutes 9.1 billion lei and 6 billion lei of this sum was planned for the restoration, development and reconstruction of road infrastructure at district and local levels,” the minister was quoted by IPN as saying in the talk show “Key Issue” produced by NTV Moldova channel.

Some 2.7bn lei of the 6bn lei earmarked for road infrastructure will come from the road fund. “There are projects that will be financed with state budget funds (1.7bn lei) and with local budget funds (about 1bn lei),” explained Sergiu Pușcuța.

The enterprises that will build and repair roads will have to meet two key criteria – quality and costs of works. There will be strict deadlines for completing the works and fines for delays and poor quality of works.

The minister said the 2020 budget deficit calculated at 2.6bn lei is by 1bn lei lower than the 2019 budget deficit, which is of 3.6bn lei. “This is a considerable reduction,” he said, noting the law on public finances provides that the main deficit should not exceed 2.5% of the GDP. The main deficit of 2.6bn lei planned for 2020 represents 1.1% of the GDP and is thus controllable.

As to the investment deficit, Sergiu Pușcuța said this existed earlier too, but was smaller. “Given that the ambitions of the Government and the state in general are greater for next year, especially as regards the development of Moldova’s economy, it was normal for discussions about this investment deficit to appear,” he noted.