Moldovan parliament adopts draft state budget for 2016

Chisinau, 9 June /MOLDPRES/ - The parliament today adopted, in the first and second readings, the draft state budget law for 2016, with revenues amounting to 31.37 billion lei and expenses worth 35.56 billion lei, with a deficit amounting to 4.18 billion lei.  

The state budget for this year was built on a slight 1.5-per cent economic growth, an inflation rate of 10.5 per cent and an exchange rate of 21.1 lei for one U.S. dollar. In 2016, the average monthly salary on the economy is scheduled to stand at 5.50 lei, increasing by 9.5 per cent in nominal values against 2015.  

The state budget revenues are expected to rise by 11.1 per cent against the budget fulfilled in 2015. “The increase in the state budget revenues, in fact, is explained by the significant increase of budget support grants in the structure of the budget incomes, with such entries not recorded in 2015,” according to the Finance Ministry. The state budget spending will increase by 17.1 per cent against 2015. The budget deficit will be covered preponderantly from external sources (3.7 billion lei).   

Finance Minister Octavian Armasu said the delay in working out the draft was explained by the fact that “the budget provides for a component of foreign financing in form of grants and in form of loans, and before approving the draft budget, we wanted to have just a little certainty that we will have this financing.”

Under the draft state budget law, the fund of subsidization of agricultural producers will be of 900 million lei, of which 387.6 million lei from the budget support programme of the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) of the European Commission. The state budget also provides for an increase in salaries for teachers by about ten per cent starting from 1 September 2016, gradual increase in salaries for judges, as well as other adjustings.   

According to the draft budget, in late 2016, the domestic state debt will not exceed 21 billion lei.

The Finance Ministry said the draft budget for 2016 ”is based on the conclusion of a cooperation agreement with IMF, which is of major importance to ensure the budget’s sustainability, both for short and medium terms. The lack of such a programme might jeopardize the getting of the foreign budgetary support, the sum of which is 4, 679.5 million lei,” of which 2.59 billion lei represent non-refundable financing.

At the same time, the ministry specified that, if the public authorities fail to carry out measures of policies provided for in the matrix of each budgetary programme of foreign support, the concerned assistance will be cut.

The draft budget law is to be voted by the parliament in the third and last reading.  

Also today, the parliament adopted a draft decision on the legislative body’s budget for 2016, which amounts to 141112,5 thousand lei.  

(Reporter A. Plitoc, editor M. Jantovan)