The Government supports the citizens who were most seriously affected by the economic crisis by increasing the salaries of public sector employees by 1,300 lei, said the deputy head of the Parliament’s commission on economy, budget and finance Radu Marian. According to him, the raising of salaries by a fixed amount advantages those with small pays as their salaries will increase the most in percentage points. For his part, economic expert Veaceslav Ioniță said the hasty approval of the draft state budget law and draft budgetary-fiscal policy by the Government is not something very serious as there were cases in Moldova when the state budget was approved much faster or much later, IPN reports.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet approved the draft state budget law in about four hours of its publication. The decision generated dissatisfaction, with the opposition accusing the government of not ensuring transparency. MPs of the Party of Action and Solidarity said there will be enough time for debates until the document is adopted by Parliament after being given a final reading.
“The raising of salaries, which is the Government’s priority, is the main good news. All the public servants will benefit from a fixed rise of 1,300 lei. This means that those with small pays, like the police officers, teachers, cooks, will have their salaries increased by 20%. For those with higher pays, the rise in percentage points will be lower. Some of the functionaries of the central apparatus will also receive higher pays. We have a problem with human resources and should do our best to keep these people in the system. The state will be more efficient if we care more about public servants,” PAS MP Radu Marian stated in the talk show “Secrets of the Power” on JurnalTV channel.
Economic expert Veaceslav Ioniță said the draft budgetary-fiscal policy is more important than the draft state budget law and this was published on November 11. Meanwhile, the business community could examine the new fiscal provisions.
“I understand that the Government aims to start the new year with an adopted state budget. As a person who organized meetings with businesses on the platform of the National Business Agenda, I want to say that we had time to read the draft budgetary-fiscal policy and to distribute it to all the associations. There were cases when the budget was adopted very late, even in April,” stated Veaceslav Ioniță.
Political commentator Anatol Țăranu said the enormous budget deficit this year and the authorities’ intention to cover it primarily with foreign funds show that the Republic of Moldova can survive only with loans.
“The budget deficit shows that we do not live on our own. It’s good that the Government takes care of the vulnerable categories, but I don’t know if this will have the electoral effect on which the government counts. The situation is very bad. I refer both to sociological surveys and to the own perceptions. The government’s image is damaged swiftly,” stated Anatol Țăranu.
The state budget deficit in 2023 will be about 18.3 billion lei or 6% of the GDP.
