The 2023 draft budget of the municipality of Chisinau was approved after being given a final reading. The revenues will total 6.8 billion lei, together with the 3.7 billion lei in transfers from the state budget, while the expenditure will be 7.3 billion lei, with a deficit of 547 million lei. The councilors of the Party of Action and Soldiery and of the Liberal Party voted against, criticizing the draft, IPN reports.
PAS councilor Dumitru Ivanov said the budget was voted on in a fully nontransparent way. The law on transparency in the decision making process was violated, while the final version of the budget was transmitted to the municipal councilors on the voting days. The draft is electoral in character, while mayor Ion Ceban uses the public funds for PR campaigns ahead of the local elections of 2023.
The head of the Socialist group on the Municipal Council Alexandr Odintsov said that not all their proposals were taken into account, but they nevertheless voted in favor of the budget as the municipal institutions cannot work without an approved budget, while the Socialist councilors support the programs that benefit the citizens of the capital city.
The head of the Liberal group on the Council Ion Cebanu noted that the vote on the budget was a farce and the group left the meeting hall before the draft beget was put to the vote.
The largest part of the municipal budget expenditure will go on education – 3.9 billion lei. A sum of 3 billion lei will be spent on public transport and road management and on public amenities, including on repairing buses and trolleybuses running on routes and public transport stations, while 622 million lei will be used for social protection. The municipal reserve fund was set at 10 million lei.
