Moldova needs a consolidated management of public finances

At the course, young leaders learned what is the public budget, its functions and components. Interpretations and meanings of public finance have been disccused in the first part of the course. Political Training School participants knew that the public finances mean a way to cover public expenditure and, it’s a way of economic and social intervention. "The state sets the rules of the game in the public budget," said the IDIS “Viitorul” expert, Angela Secrieru. Among the topics which were discussed Friday, March 2 were included: the public revenue, the public expenditure, treasury, the financial mechanism and national problems of tax system as a whole.

The second part of the course was dedicated to the local budgets, budget deficits and the public debt. In this sense, the expert told to participants about the place that occupy local budgets in the general government, which, according to the Ministry of Finance, represented 27,550.9 million. lei in 2010; about the mechanisms of financing budget deficits and public debt values, which the most representative share has the state debts that recorded 18 870, 7 million. lei in 2010. A moderate budget deficit is a good thing as long as it involves investment. "In developed countries, the budget deficit is a major source of investment", said, in this context, Angela Secrieru. Also Mrs. Secrieru highlighted the need of the financial decentralization in order to ensure effective local autonomy. The financial decentralization is seen as a decisive factor in local economic growth. A reform in this area is the introduction of new local taxes (5 in all), and the right of local authorities to settle  from 2012 the rate for local taxes. An interesting thing that found out participants of the Political Training School was the size of expenses per capita registered by different communities.

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The project "Advanced Learning for Highly Motivated Young Political Leaders in Moldova" runs from September 2011 - August 2012 and aims to train young political leaders in Moldova, training based on applying interactive learning methods. Theoretical courses are held weekly by a team of experts from academia, business and public administration, career diplomats and other public actors.

Material prepared by Veverita Ana - Maria, Project Assistant, Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) „Viitorul”, phone: 221844, e-mail: ana.veverita@viitorul.org