The “Budget +Plus” passed its first reading with 55 votes from parliamentarians on Monday, March 7. Another 17 lawmakers abstained from voting. According to the government, this is the largest-scale financial package ever allocated for investments and economic growth. Prime Minister Dorin Recean emphasized that the resource allocations were possible thanks to support from the European Union and the collaboration of public service employees who worked with European partners to expedite the transfer of the first installment from the Growth Plan for Moldova and prepare the budget’s implementation.
“We acted prompt because people want investments and projects to reach their villages and towns as soon as possible. The Budget +Plus includes allocations of about 8 billion lei. It coexists around two main areas: 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 grow the economy, incomes, and living standards of citizens,” said Prime Minister Dorin Recean.
The energy package includes compensation for the first 110kWh of electricity, which will be offered until the end of 2025, monetary compensation for heating during the cold season, and compensations for local public administrations for hospitals, kindergartens, schools, and other social institutions to reduce electricity bills. The package also covers compensation for businesses in the agri-food sector, energy efficiency projects, and providing Easter aid to families to help them through the winter and pay their bills.
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The Prime Minister stated that the heating and electricity compensation is only possible due to the free assistance provided by the European Union. In winter, the average compensation received was about 800 lei. In February alone, over 700,000 households received compensation ranging from 800 to 1,400 lei.
“The opposition says prices should not have increased, and there shouldn’t have been any compensations. But you’re deceiving the people because you know that Moldova did not cause the high energy prices or the energy crisis, and these issues are beyond Moldova’s control. Moldova’s responsibility is to help its citizens, and that’s what we did. And your responsibility was something else: to prevent energy dependence on a single source, from a single state, but while you were in power, you did nothing,” said the Prime Minister.
The head of the Executive emphasized that, in the context of a war at the border, an energy crisis, and economic stagnation in the region, the government managed to ensure stability, reduce inflation, and prioritize economic recovery. Therefore, the package includes funds for strategic projects and investments, 1 billion lei for local roads in about 100 localities, 1 billion lei to repair about 200 km of regional and district roads, and 200 million lei for modernizing school canteens.
The package includes 200 million lei to support 700 entrepreneurs, 200 million lei for farmers, 60 million lei for young employees, and 100 million lei for environmental projects. The government will allocate an additional 85 million lei to repair the access road from Cantemir to the Falciu railway bridge, where traffic has stopped for 30 years.
“In the previous budgets, we allocated more money to support citizens. We increased salaries, pensions, social allowances, and compensation on bills, but this exhausted the budget. In this budget, the Budget +Plus, the priority is to ensure economic growth because that’s the only way we will increase the incomes of all citizens, create more well-paid jobs, including in villages, and improve living conditions faster. To achieve this, we should invest massively in infrastructure, creating construction sites all over Moldova that provide people with good jobs at home and raise living standards in all districts,” said the Prime Minister.