Poisik: “The Draft Budget Is 480 Pages. Who Could Read It in Half a Day?”

The government-approved Draft Budget Law for 2023 arrived in Parliament. It was approved just three hours after it was submitted for consideration. Some deputies and analysts do not agree with such haste. Mihail Poisik, doctor of economics, presented his opinion, writes enews.md “Just imagine, the draft budget is 480 pages. Who of the ministers, and then the deputies, can read it in half a day? Let alone look into it, analyze it, make suggestions and comments, compare it with the previous year’s budget? That is, do something to improve the document. No one reads anything, no one understands, and they are rapidly adopting the most important document of the country, by which the country will have to live for a whole year!” The economist stresses that the problem is systemic in nature. “Let us recall the document about Moldova’s accession to the Association with EU. It is 1000 pages in English, and they approved it without a moment’s hesitation. And the translation was done later. Who evaluated it, who delved at least into the main provisions, clauses and conditions? Why hadn’t it been published? Why hadn’t they let economists, specialists, and the public read it? The authorities were in a hurry. And they are still proud that we have the Association with the EU.” Poisik asks the main questions: what did our country gain, what did it achieve and what did it improve? “They constantly boast and take pride in the fact that our exports have increased significantly. But why does no one think about why? The lion’s share is products that are created on the basis of schemes, patterns, etc. from give-and-take raw materials of foreign clients. And our contribution is only cheap labor. Plus, we also export fodder grain, they feed the cattle there, and then they send us their meat. Why can’t we do that ourselves?” Poisik draws attention to the fact that, according to calculations, the budget deficit next year will exceed 18 billion 327 million lei. The authorities plan to cover most of it through loans.