Moldovan citizens to pay less for debt after theft of billion

Chisinau, 10 February /MOLDPRES/- President Igor Dodon announced during a working meeting with Speaker Zinaida Greceanii and Prime Minister Ion Chicu this morning that he will come up with a legislative initiative to remove the fiscal burden from the shoulders of citizens to compensate for "theft of the billionth" in the banking system.

Dodon said that at present the most important issue the Government deals with is how over 20 billion lei, which are placed on the shoulders of the citizens, should be excluded from the budget, so as not to pay people through taxes. "A formula has been identified, following consultations with external partners, including the IMF, how to offset at this stage some of the expenses for the recovery of the billion not from the account of citizens, but from other sources,” he said.

He noted that a law is to be adopted whereby the debt of over 20 billion lei is reduced by at least 5-6 billion lei. "If about 600-700 million lei were paid annually to citizens, in order to return this billion, I think we will be able to reduce this amount twice by a law, which will be approved next week," he said.

He said that after discussions with the premier it was decided that, from 1 October all pensions in the Republic of Moldova should be indexed.