Moldovan government approves the report on the execution of the 2020 state budget with a deficit of 11 billion 134.86 million lei (5.4% of GDP).
As noted by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Tatiana Ivanicichina, in particular, the state budget revenues last year amounted to 38 billion 500 million 513.5 thousand lei, expenditures - 49 billion 635 million 378.7 thousand lei, the deficit - 11 billion 134 million 865.2 thousand lei. At the same time, the revenue side of the budget was fulfilled at 103.3% of the indicator approved after three budget revisions, and the expenditure side - at 93.2%. The share of state budget revenues in the national public budget was 61.4%, and in GDP - 18.7%. The actual revenues of the state budget in 2020 turned out to be higher than the planned and subsequently revised figure by about 1.22 billion lei (+ 3.3%), but compared to the previous year, they decreased by 3.7% (-1 billion 467.4 million lei) as a result of a slowdown in the economic growth due to the effects of the pandemic. According to the Ministry of Finance, in general, in the structure of revenues, receipts from taxes and duties in 2020 amounted to 35 billion 777.1 million lei (+ 4.5% to the adjusted indicators), receipts from grants - 624.2 million lei (-34.4%). In 2020, a low level of expenditures was noted in the framework of projects financed from external sources - 70% of the approved level. This is also due to the effects of the pandemic. The actual expenditures of the state budget in 2020 turned out to be lower than the expected, but subsequently the adjusted expenditures - by 3 billion 645.2 million lei lower (-3.8%). At the same time, compared to the previous year, expenditures in 2020 increased by 6 billion 561.5 million lei (+ 15.2%). At the same time, all payment documents submitted during the year to the regional treasuries of the Ministry of Finance were paid in full. Of the total state budget expenditures in 2020, about 45.8% are expenditures on programs and services financed from the state budget, and 54.2% are transfers to other budgets. In particular, transfers within the framework of the 2020 public budget amounted to 26 billion 920.9 million lei (-3.7% of the approved indicator), personnel costs - 7 billion 040.6 million lei (-4.2%), capital investments in assets - 1 billion 524.2 million lei (-4.7% of the approved), and capital expenditures in general - 4.79 billion (-15.5% of the approved indicator). At the same time, in 2020, 64 capital investment projects were financed from the state budget, of which 14 objects were completed and put into operation, and the rest are in the process of implementation. As a result, the deficit of the state budget of Moldova in 2020 amounted to 11 billion 134.86 million lei (5.4% of GDP). At the same time, it turned out to be 30.4% less than the adjusted indicator. The lower budget deficit than previously expected was due to low execution of expenditures, especially in the framework of projects financed from external sources. The national debt was within the limits stipulated by the Law on the State Budget. The balance of the public debt, expressed in MDL, as of December 31, 2020 amounted to 67 billion 820.7 billion lei, and increased, compared to the situation at the end of 2019, by 15.33 billion lei (+ 29.2%). At the same time, the domestic public debt in 2020 increased by 6 billion 067.4 million lei (+ 26.2%) - from 23 billion 168.2 million lei (at the end of December 2019) to 29 billion 235.6 million lei (at the end of December 2020), and the external public debt in MDL terms increased by 9 billion 259 million lei (+ 31.6%) over the same period - from 29 billion 326.1 million to 38 billion 585.1 million lei. As the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Finance Tatiana Ivanicichina noted, the share of public debt in GDP as of December 31, 2020 amounted to 32.9%, which is 7.9 percentage points more, compared to the situation at the end of 2019, which is still a very comfortable indicator, compared to the 60% limit provided for by the Maastricht Treaty. As noted by the Ministry of Finance, in order to mitigate the negative consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the main measures implemented in 2020 were focused on: supporting citizens and entrepreneurial activity during the state of emergency; increase in the salaries of medical staff; payment of one-time assistance to recipients of pensions and social benefits, the amount of which does not exceed 3000 lei per month; support to economic agents in the agricultural sector, including within the framework of the VAT refund program; reimbursement of lost revenues by local budgets, the state social insurance budget and maintaining the level of expenditures of compulsory medical insurance funds, despite their shortfall in revenues. To provide financial support for these measures, the parameters of the state budget for 2020 were changed by 3 laws adopted by the parliament. // 17.06.2021 – InfoMarket
