A Court of Auditors team that audited the Strengthening the Effectiveness of the Social Safety Network Project formulated an opinion with reservations about the project’s financial situations by December 31, 2017. According to the team’s findings, the financial reports presented to the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance offer a real and truthful picture of the financial situations, except for the fixed assets (buildings) chapter that indicated a value of 2.3 million lei at the end of 2017. The audit report was examined in a public meeting of the Court of Auditors on June 27, IPN reports.
Under the current regulations, if extensive repair works are performed on buildings managed by other institutions, the volume of works executed during the budgetary year is transferred to the managing institution. Given that the renovated buildings are managed by the General Government Building Administration Division, the designing services and executed works to the value of 2.3 million lei were to be transmitted to this.
The procurement of goods, works and services within the project in the audited period took place based on the regulated norms of the World Bank Guidelines. In 2017, 31 contracts for the purchase of works, goods and services to the value of 5.5 million lei, €90,100 and US$ 338,900 were signed as part of the project. The checks confirmed the necessity of the made purchases and the justification of the incurred costs.
The project was implemented by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection in 2011-2017 and had two inter-correlated components: social assistance and cold-month assistance programs and financing of investments in institutionally strengthening the social protection system. A sum of US$3.7 million was allocated in 2017 for achieving the set objectives, with 94.6% of this being used.
The audit was carried out at the request of the World Bank in the conditions specified in the financing agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the International Development Association.
