The state budget for 2020 that was given a first reading by Parliament on December 5 is an adventure into which Moldova has never ventured. The document is a great soap bubble and reflects wishful thinking, which refers more to wishes than to evidence and reason, political expert Viorel Cibotaru was quoted by IPN as saying in the talk show “Emphasis on today” on TVR Moldova channel.
“It is a big lie intended for the voters and for the foreign partners because, on the one hand, it was stated loudly that the current Government does not enjoy political coverage and, on the other hand, this was declared a technocratic Government. But the politology textbook says that any technocratic Government promotes maximum austerity policies, but we see a very generous budget here,” said Cebotari.
Ex-minister of finance Natalia Gavrilița noted that when the foreign financing sources of the state budget are not known, it is a serious problem as this means that there is an uncovered amount. “I think the deficit of 7.5 billion lei with unrealistic financing sources shows the Chicu Government acts by the principle that the end of the world can come after us and is ready to go on with financially uncovered programs only because an electoral year is coming and President Dodon aims to win the second term in office,” she stated.
Editorialist Nicolae Negru said the 2020 state budget can be considered an electoral one. The fact that the budget envisions the possibility of obtaining financing from Russia and Belarus even if there are now no such agreements shows that an electoral technique is applied “We plan this money that might not come for development investments, while the money we are sure will come is budgeted for social welfare so that the people could benefit from development,” he opined.
The state budget for 2020 that was adopted following the first reading provides for revenues of 44.136,6 billion lei, an increase of 8.6% on 2019, and for an expenditure of 51.551,9 billion lei, up 11.2%. The budget deficit of 7.415,3 billion lei will be financed with internal and foreign funds.
