Moldovan PM in parliament says Budget +Plus implies allocations of about 8 billion lei for backing residents, investments in economy

The parliament today backed the largest financial package ever allocated by Moldova’s government for investments and economic growth. At the parliament’s plenary meeting, Prime Minister Dorin Recean emphasized that the resource allocations had been possible thanks to the support on behalf of the European Union, as well as the public service employees who collaborated with European partners, in order to expedite the transfer of the first installment of the Growth Plan for Moldova and the preparation of this budget's implementation.

‘’We have moved quickly, because people want the investments and projects to reach their villages and towns as soon as possible. The Budget +Plus involves allocations of about 8 billion lei and is built on two dimensions: the energy package, through which we continue to support the population and the economic development package, through which we will invest across the country to boost the economy, incomes and the living standards of citizens,’’ said Prime Minister Dorin Recean.

The energy package includes compensation for electricity in invoices for the first 110kWh, which will be provided till the end of 2025, monetary compensation for heating provided during the cold season, as well as compensations allocated to local public administrations for hospitals, kindergartens, schools and other social institutions, in order to cut electricity invoices. Also, the package includes compensations for enterprises of the agrg-food sector, energy efficiency projects, and Easter aid for families to facilitate exiting winter and paying invoices.

According to the PM, the compensations for heating and electricity are only possible due to the free assistance provided by the European Union. In last December, January and February, the average compensation received was about 800 lei. In February alone, over 700,000 households received compensations ranging between 800 and 1,400 lei.

‘’The opposition says that prices should not have increased and compensations should not have been needed. But you are misleading people, because you know very well that high energy prices and the energy crisis were not caused by Moldova and do not depend on Moldova. It depends on Moldova to help its citizens and that is exactly what we have done. As for you, you had a different task: to prevent energy dependence on a single source, on a single state, but while you were in power, you did absolutely nothing,’’ said the prime minister.

The prime minister highlighted that, in the conditions of a war at the border, the energy crisis and economic stagnation in the region, the government had managed to ensure economic stability, inflation was reduced, and currently, the priority is economic recovery. Therefore, the economic package provides for the allocation of money for strategic projects and investments, 1 billion lei for local roads in about 100 localities, 1 billion lei for about 200 km of regional and district roads repaired, as well as 200 million lei for modernizing school canteens. At the same time, the package includes 200 million lei as support for 700 entrepreneurs, 200 million lei for farmers, 60 million lei for young employees and 100 million lei for environmental projects. Another 85 million will be allocated for the repair of the access road from Cantemir to the Falciu railway bridge, where traffic has been suspended for 30 years and the repair of the Valeni railway segment.

‘’In the budgets of previous years, we allocated more money for supporting citizens. We increased wages, pensions, social allowances, compensations of invoices, but this exhausted the budget. In this budget, the Budget +Plus, the priority is to ensure economic growth. because only this way will we be able to increase the incomes of all citizens, have more well-paid jobs, including in villages, and we will feel the improvement in living conditions faster. To achieve this, we need to invest massively in infrastructure, to make construction sites all over Moldova, which provide people with good jobs at home and improve living standards in all districts’’ the prime minister added.