Revenues to Chisinau budget constantly falling

Revenues to the budget of the Chisinau municipality are constantly decreasing, threatening targets, Deputy Mayor Mihai Furtuna told the City Hall's ordinary meeting Monday. “The financial situation in Chisinau is critical”, said Furtuna. “On February 17 the Chisinau City Council approved a defective, unrealistic and populist budget, with planned incomes of 1.79 billion lei. According to forecasts by the Chisinau Fiscal Inspectorate and the Financial Department the budget will be short of 456 million lei by the end of the year”, the official said. In the first 5 months of the year revenues to the city's budget constituted 586 million lei out of 745 million lei planned. The municipality's accounts payable, according to Furtuna, are now 114 million lei, of which 96 million lei constitute the debt owed to the heat supplier Termocom. Furtuna suggested a loan of 30-40 million lei should be taken to pay the debt to the utility and a debt rescheduling plan should also be negotiated. At the same time, the deputy mayor said that despite the financial hardship all the salaries to the municipality-funded workers have been paid. Mihai Furtuna said he would strongly advise the City Council to reduce the budget both it terms of expenses and planned incomes to avoid financial failure. The Financial Department has already prepared a draft providing for cuts of about 340 million lei.