The level of budget transparency in Moldova didn’t evolve over the last few years due mainly to political factors, says the study “Assessment of transparency in the budgetary process in the Republic of Moldova”, which was launched by the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup”. The Center’s program director Dumitru Budianschi said budget transparency reached the recommended level in 2011, when the first study was made. The probability of the disappearance of the €1 billion lei from the banking system was then very low, IPN reports.
The budget transparency index in Moldova in 2015 (which covers the period between 2013 and 2014) was 59 out of 100. It remained at the same level as the index presented in 2012 (for 2010-2011). Dumitru Budianschi noted that there are yet essential changes as regards transparency by different components.
Thus, even if the budget transparency index remained unchanged since 2012, the Parliament’s supervision ‘power’ changed from ‘powerful’ to ‘moderate’, while the Audit Office, even if it lost several points, remained at the ‘powerful’ level. The key reason for the lack of progress in this regard is the inexistence of real political will to generate a firm commitment to promote budget transparency. For example, the law on public finances was adopted with a delay of two years and this hampered the evolution of this index.
“Expert-Grup” recommends formulating an express policy with measures to increase budget transparency at executive level, at the Audit Office and, especially, at parliamentary level. Technical measures are also needed to increase the opportunities to inform the people and comprehension of budget documents.
To identify the budget risks and anticipate shocks for public finances, it is recommended formulating the budget based on a number of macroeconomic scenarios. To increase the level of implementation of the recommendations of the Audit Office”, “Expert-Grup” suggests that the executive should annually publish a report to describe the measures taken to implement them.
