The Economist: Unfortunately, Moldova Cannot Avoid a Lockdown

This was stated by Expert-Grup director, economist Adrian Lupusor. "I think that the Republic of Moldova, unfortunately, cannot avoid a lockdown, but of more concern is how the government will compensate for the economic costs," Lupusor said, oficial.md reports. He stressed that " introducing a lockdown this year will unlikely turn into an economic recession. The economy will slow down, but not as much as in 2020." "The problem is that the possible failure to support this isolation through compensatory measures for companies and the population will most likely cause an increase in the private sector bankruptcy and unemployment, poverty among the population, especially the low-income population. There are real risks here," the economist commented for Europa Liberă. According to Adrian Lupusor, two tools need to be used to balance out the lockdown costs. "First, there is a need for an integrated state guarantees program for small and medium-sized enterprises to facilitate their access to bank loans, and the second is compensation of about 75 percent of salaries for employees who will be affected by an isolation. Along with this, the government should more actively inform the population about the need to introduce this lockdown and should simplify bureaucratic procedures for companies and the population in order to gain access to the provided support," the economist said. Resources in the budget will be found, Lupusor added. "As I said, despite the crisis, the financial system has been acceptably maintained, and resources can be found for these support programs by reducing priority spending. The government can increase internal and external flows, because the public debt level makes it possible," the economist said.