Moldovan finance ministry's official says goal of reform implemented as of 1 October 2018 to strengthen fiscal basis

Chisinau, 2 November /MOLDPRES/ - The goal of the fiscal reform implemented starting from 1 October 2018 is to strengthen the fiscal basis and get additional revenues to the budget by reducing the quota of the shadow economy. The state secretary at the Finance Ministry, Ion Chicu, has made statements to this effect in an interview given exclusively for MOLDPRES.  

According to Chicu, in the first months of implementation of the new fiscal provisions, a diminution of the revenues might be recorded; yet, afterwards, they are expected to increase. “On the initial period of 2-4 months, we can feel the impact of the diminution. We have already the results for October this year. Thus, in the first months of 2018, a pace of growth higher by 13-14 per cent was registered against the same period of 2017 and this pace stood at 12-13 per cent in October this year. We are sure that, starting from April-May 2019, if there are no other factors, the pace of collections will be re-established and will even exceed the present one,” Chicu noted.   

The official added that the state budget annually misses big collections of revenues because of the “shadow economy” and through the fiscal reform the authorities were set to re-bring to the legal framework the economic agents using the unregistered labour.

A legislative package on fiscal reform entered into force on 1 October, 2018. The package sees, in particular, establishment of a single 12-per cent quota of the income tax for private people, a cut from 23 per cent to 18 per cent of the share of the contribution of the employer to the State Social Insurances budget and doubling of the personal exemption from 11,280 lei to 24,000 lei.    

In a today’s press release, the Finance Ministry informed that, as a result of the entrance into force of the fiscal reform, more people had started getting higher salaries. At the same time, the Finance Ministry was notified that “a small number of employees from the auxiliary staff received lower salaries.” The ministry specified that, following verifications, decision-makers found out that the situation had been caused by an accounting calculation error. “This error was corrected and on the days to come, the salary differences will be paid,” the press release also reads.  

(Reporter N. Sandu, editor L. Alcaza)