Moldovan government approves state budget for 2021

Chisinau, 1 December /MOLDPRES/- The cabinet approved at the 30 November meeting a draft state budget law for 2021. The document was worked out given impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters in 2020 on the national economy, the government's communication and protocol department has reported.

The draft state budget law for 2021 is based on an economic growth of 4.7%, increase in exports of 12.6% and increase in imports of 14.3%.

Deputy Prime Minister Serghei Pușcuța, Minister of Finance, said that 2021 is expected to be a year of recovering the losses incurred in 2020.

Under the draft, the revenues of the state budget amount to 41.4 billion lei, increasing by 4.2 billion lei compared to the state budget approved for 2020. The increase in revenues is due to the increase in tax revenues and grants.

State budget expenditures represent 55.4 billion lei, registering an increase of 4.1% compared to the state budget approved in 2020. Of the total amount of state budget expenditures for next year, 53% represent transfers to other budgets, and 47 % - expenditures for the implementation of programs in 2021 directly through the central public authorities.

Also, in 2021, the current spending programs will be financially provided, such as:

- Road fund (2.49 billion lei, of which 1.53 billion lei for the repair and maintenance of national roads and 960 million lei for the maintenance of local roads),

- National Fund for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Environment (1.1 billion lei),

- National Fund for Regional Development (200 million lei),

- Energy efficiency fund (30 million lei),

- Repair program of national, local, communal public roads and streets (Good roads) - 900 million lei.

"The state budget is the place where money accumulates from people, so the effort must find its return and be used efficiently. We see that almost 2 billion lei go to agriculture, and another 1.86 will go to infrastructure development. It is extremely important to maintain investments in infrastructure - the most powerful anti-crisis weapon ", said Prime Minister Ion Chicu.

The state budget deficit is estimated at 14 billion lei. It will be financed from external sources (net inflows from external loans for budget support and implementation of projects financed from external sources) and internal sources (including means from privatization of public assets).

The draft is to be submitted to Parliament for consideration.