Moldovan Parliament approves the report on the execution of the 2021 state budget with a deficit of 4 billion 733.06 million lei (1.96% of GDP).
According to the materials, presented by Minister of Finance Dumitru Budianschi, state budget revenues last year amounted to 49 billion 383 million 833.4 thousand lei, costs - 54 billion 116 million 899.8 thousand lei, deficit - 4 billion 733 million 066.4 thousand lei. At the same time, the revenue side of the budget was executed at 107.7% of the approved specified budget indicator, while the expenditure side - at 93.9%. The actual state budget revenues in 2021 were higher than the planned and subsequently adjusted index by 3 billion 518.9 million lei (+7.7%), while relative to the previous year they increased by 10 billion 883.3 million lei (+28.3%) due to the economic recovery after the economic crisis in the pandemic year. At the same time, the actual state budget expenditures in 2021 were lower than expected by 3 billion 539.9 million lei (-6.1%). At the same time, relative to the previous year, the total state budget expenditures in 2021 increased by 4 billion 481.5 million lei (+9%). The state budget of Moldova for 2021 was initially approved with a deficit of 13 billion 984.2 million lei (6.3% of GDP). After the revision of the budget it was expected to reach 11 billion 791.9 million lei (5.1% of GDP). But as a result, it amounted to 4 billion 733.06 million lei (1.96% of GDP). Compared with 2020, the state budget deficit of Moldova in 2021 decreased by 6 billion 401.8 million lei (2.4 times). According to the Ministry of Finance, in general, the structure of revenues was dominated by revenues from taxes and duties, which in 2021 amounted to 44 billion 513.7 million lei (90.1% of total revenues). As compared to the previous year, they increased by 8 billion 741.6 million lei (+24.4%). Income from grants amounted to 2 billion 290.6 million lei as compared to 624.2 million lei in the previous year (3.7 times more). All payment documents submitted during the year to the regional treasuries of the Ministry of Finance were paid in full. Of the total expenses of the state budget in 2021, about 42.4% (22.95 billion lei) were expenses for programs and services financed from the state budget and 57.6% (31.17 billion lei) were transfers to other budgets. Capital expenditures amounted to 3 billion 768.9 million lei (77.2% of the planned). Capital expenses of 1 billion 112.1 million lei (22.8%) remained unexecuted, of which 903.7 million lei (30% of the plan) for projects financed from external sources. At the same time, as compared to the previous year, capital expenses decreased by 1 billion 024.5 million lei (-21.4%). The volume of capital investments amounted to 1 billion 665.2 million lei, (73.8% of the plan). Compared to 2020, it increased by 141 million lei (+9.3%). The total public debt of Moldova, expressed in MDL, as of December 31, 2021, amounted to 77 billion 752.7 million lei, and increased compared to the situation as of the end of 2020 by 9.93 billion lei (+14.6%). At the same time, the domestic public debt increased by 4 billion 045.8 million lei (+13.8%) to 33 billion 281.4 million lei, and the external public debt in MDL terms - by 5 billion 886.2 million lei (+15.3%) to 44 billion 471.3 million lei (the equivalent of $2 billion 506.1 million). The share of total public debt in GDP by the end of December 2021 was 32.1%, having decreased by 1.9 p.p. compared to late 2020 (34%). The Ministry of Finance notes that overall state budget execution in 2021 was under pressure from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the effects of declaring state of emergency to ensure the country's energy security. The energy crisis of the fall of 2021 created new challenges and created a chain increase in prices, both for energy on the regional market and for food on the domestic market. At the same time, in 2021 the government responded quickly to the mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis by introducing measures to support businesses and household consumers, which subsequently led to the revision of urgent and essential short-term key budget targets. Thus, the 2021 State Budget Act was amended three times to financially support these measures. // 24.06.2022 - InfoMarket.
