MP Petru Burduja, deputy chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Economy, wonders what is keeping the current government from combating unjustified price increases by monopolies.
“You have a parliamentary majority, you have the Cabinet, you have absolutely all the necessary tools (...) the Competition Council, the Financial Market Commission, the Ministry of Economy. We and the ordinary citizens are asking you – act without delay”, urged the member of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists during an IPN debate dedicated to inflation.
In response to PAS lawmaker Dumitru Alaiba’s argument that the current government has managed to increase pensions and other budget payments, the Socialist MP noted that the purchasing power of the leu has decreased significantly compared to December 2020, when inflation was only 0.4%. “And not 27% as today. So, let’s make some calculations. Maybe it makes more sense to return those pensions and lower the prices as they were. This is very debatable. In 2020, you could buy 10 liters of gasoline with 200 lei. Today, 200 lei buys you only 7 liters”, said the lawmaker.
The measures to increase the population’s income, goes on Petru Burduja, are welcome. “But when the Moldovan Government fails to take control over the increase of prices, (such measures) are completely negated”.
In another reply to his opponent, Petru Burduja noted that in 2020, despite the pandemic, inflation did not exceed the forecast values.
The Bloc of Communists and Socialists has proposed a number of measures to stop inflation and stimulate the economy. One of them is a full exemption from income tax, which, says Petru Burduja, would convey a message of encouragement to the business. According to him, this will be an infusion of about 3 billion lei into the Moldovan economy.
However, Petru Burduja doubts the current government is ready to cooperate with the opposition. Of the more than 50 legislative proposals tabled by the Bloc, according to him, 28 have already been disapproved by the Government. Initiatives such as the introduction of a moratorium on tax inspections, amnesty for penalties and fines, or the reduction of excise duties and VAT on fuels are being shelved and will not reach Parliament, believes the Socialist MP.
While acknowledging they are “a lifeline” in the current economic crisis, Petru Burduja says the vast majority of government borrowing to close the budget hole is for current spending, including compensation for citizens. “I would compare this to when a family takes a loan out of a bank to buy fish instead of a fishing rod (...) If the funds attracted by Moldova will not be invested in infrastructure projects and long-term objectives of national interest, they will simply be spent during 2022, and in 2023 we will have to look for investments elsewhere,” said MP Petru Burduja.
The debate was the 249th installment of the “Political Culture” Series, run by IPN with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
