While the current GDP on the right bank has recovered to 75% of its 1989 level, the Transnistrian region has only managed a meager 32% of it. Salary and pension discrepancies between the two banks have constantly grown since 2015. Over the past 22 years, prices increased 6 times on the right bank, and 9.3 times in the Transnistrian region. The findings belong to Veaceslav Ioniță, expert with the IDIS Viitorul think-tank.

In 1995, the left bank was slightly outperforming the right bank in terms of GDP per capita, with the figure standing around the $400 mark. The trend continued for the next 15 years, and in 2010, the left bank had $2,400 and the right one $2,300.

But after Moldova signed the Association and Free Trade Agreement with the EU in 2015, things started to reverse. In 2020, GDP per capita on the right side reached $4,400, whereas the left side recorded $2,900 dollars. This year, it will be $6,700 on the right bank versus $3,600 on the left one.

In 1999, the average salary on the right bank was 305 lei, and 715 lei on the left bank. The trend continued until 2016, when the region ran out of foreign exchange reserves and several negative phenomena took place that worsened the situation. “2016 is the year when the ‘success story’ of the breakaway Transnistrian region ended. This year, the average salary in the Republic of Moldova is estimated to reach 12,450 lei, in the separatist region of Transnistria - 7,000 lei. The gap increases every year”, said the expert.