Volodymyr Golovatyuk
Economic expert Vladimir Golovatiuc draws attention to this, concluding that there are serious problems in the Moldovan economy.
“With stagnation in the economy, when at best there is no growth in many sectors, when exports are falling and the trade deficit is growing, when the government’s grant support is reduced, an increase in the current account deficit of the balance of payments is inevitable. But the scale of this growth in Moldova in 2024 is enormous,” Golovatiuc argues.
The expert emphasizes that the deficit of trade in goods increased by $750 mln. At the same time, it was partially compensated by a surplus in trade in services, but only by $24 mln.
The situation with transportation services is particularly dismal. Up to and including 2018, exports of transportation services exceeded their imports. Now it is vice versa. And if in 2019 the negative balance was only $12 million, in 2023 $53 million, in 2024 it reached $127 million.
At the same time, the situation with IT services is not bad. The balance is positive in the amount of $555 million with an increase of 12%, and in relation to 2019 there was a fourfold increase.
Nevertheless, this is practically the only positive example.
In addition, the income that the country receives from abroad decreased by almost $300 million. This includes a decrease in transfers to citizens and grants to the government.
Remittances fell from $2 billion in 2023 to $1.9 billion in 2024 (down 5%). Grants to the government fell from $414 million in 2023 to $272 million in 2024, a 34% drop.
The current account deficit suggests that the income generated in the country is not enough to maintain and grow the living standards of the population and the normal functioning of business. And this gap is growing rapidly – in relation to 2021, the deficit has grown by more than 70%. So, life is getting worse and worse.
“Thus, the dynamics of the main integrated index of the balance of payments, its current account, confirms the conclusion that there are serious problems in the Moldovan economy,” the economist concludes.
