Chisinau Mayor and leader of the National Alternative Movement, Ion Ceban, said that Moldova economy recorded very modest growth in recent years and that official data do not fully reflect the reality faced by businesses and the population.
In a public post, Ceban said that over the past five years the economy grew cumulatively by only 0.4 percent and that 2025 will not bring a significant improvement, despite forecasts indicating growth of around 1 percent.
He said several key economic indicators showed negative trends in recent years.
“Industrial production fell by 1.3 percent, while agricultural production dropped by 2.8 percent. Exports decreased by more than 12 percent in 2024 alone. Even if the new methodology used by the Statistics Office tries to show improvement in 2025, exporters themselves confirm that this is not the case,” Ion Ceban wrote.
Ceban also said Moldova ranks last in Eastern Europe in terms of foreign direct investment and remains the only country neighboring Ukraine whose economy has not returned to its pre war level.
“In recent years, agriculture, industrial production, the labor force, exports and employment have all declined. Suddenly, in 2025, everything is reported to grow rapidly,” he said.
The mayor also raised concerns about external debt. He said Moldova external debt exceeded 130 billion lei and could surpass 135 billion lei once final data for 2025 become available.
According to Ceban, authorities plan to contract new external loans worth about 21 billion lei in 2026, with around one third of the amount allocated to interest payments.