Вячеслав Ионицэ
For instance, Alla Darovana, an MP of the Communist and Socialist Bloc, said that instead of long-term decisions, the authorities make short-term ones. “The same compensations, which the Cabinet of Ministers actively provides, do not solve the real problem, but only delay it. If prices for the population are unaffordable, only economic development can help. But we can’t talk about it: the servicing of the external debt will cost 32 billion lei in the next three years, and to this we need to add the servicing of domestic loans.”
Economic expert Veaceslav Ionita noted that the additional 7.7 billion lei promised by the government will come exclusively from external sources. Half of it will be grants and the rest will be external loans.
“We are ‘living merrily’ with our debts. In the first two months of the year, we attracted less than 1% of the promised grants, and found ourselves actually in a minus on external loans. In such a situation, it is difficult to understand the optimism shown by the government,” the economist notes.
The expert emphasized: about 77% of the amount goes directly to current expenditures – pensions, salaries and compensation. And only a small part, 23% – for real investments. This situation creates a serious risk for future years, when Moldova may no longer receive the previous external financing.
Ionita also criticizes the government’s strategy of “selling the same product twice”, stressing that half of the amounts presented as new measures were already approved in February, and now they are simply repackaged in a more attractive package.
Another worrying factor is the growing budget deficit, which will reach almost 18 billion lei, equivalent to 5.1% of GDP (the highest figure in recent years). At the same time, Moldova’s public debt has grown to more than 140 billion lei, which is a negative record for the last 22 years.
“We are borrowing today just to live until tomorrow,” believes Veaceslav Ionitsa. – Without bold reforms, we will find ourselves in a much bigger crisis than we are now.”
