Government Prepares Grandiose Development Plan for 123 Billion Lei, but There Is No Money

At the meeting on 29 May, Recean’s government approved the National Development Plan (NDP) for 2025-2027 that aims at building a ‘European country, safe and prosperous for citizens and business environment’. The document contains 95 reform measures to be implemented through 264 development projects. Of the total number of planned actions, about 39 per cent ensure the continuity of the National Development Plan 2024-2026, while 61 per cent represent new reform actions, the government says. ‘The actions of the NDP are aligned with the medium-term budgetary framework. For each action and project, the implementation costs are estimated and the sources of their coverage are presented, including references to budget subprograms,’ the State Chancellery explains. The total estimated cost of implementing the planned reforms is about 123.46 billion lei (about 6.4 billion euros), which is almost two years’ worth of the state budget from 2023. Of this huge sum, the authorities claim that only about 11.7 billion lei, or 9.5 per cent of the total amount, is covered by the state budget. The amount of about 32.75 billion lei, or 26.5 per cent, will come from external aid. The remaining amount of about 79 billion lei, or 64 per cent of the total, represents uncovered expenditure. ‘Reform actions (indirect projects) planned in the NDP, which are partially covered or do not have financial coverage, should be considered in dialogue with potential investors and development partners, including the Partnership Platform for Moldova,’ the State Chancellery states. The document specifies that ‘in order to increase the pace of reforms implementation, ensure efficient use of resources and increase the degree of capitalization of external financial assistance, the government proposes for the first time to introduce a new mechanism for the implementation of reforms based on project management systems, with 2024 being the first year of the mechanism application and representing a transition period.’ For this purpose, the government developed the www.project.gov.md platform, a digital initiative created to provide an interactive environment for the effective management of development projects in Moldova. The platform facilitates access by authorities and development partners to relevant project-related data, providing increased transparency of development activities and financial resource allocation. It is estimated that the implementation of the NDP will be evaluated annually through outcome and impact indicators set for each objective. The results of the evaluation will be included in the consolidated annual report on the Government’s performance submitted to the Parliament.