Labour and social protection minister says Moldova initiates more structural reforms in social sector in 2023

Chisinau, 28 December /MOLDPRES/ - Moldova in 2023 has initiated more structural reforms in the social sector. Labour and Social Protection Minister Alexei Buzu today made statements to this effect at a news conference, during which he unveiled the most important achievements of this year.     

The official referred to the initiatives underway in the social field. ‘’If we do not resolutely make qualitative and courageous changes, Moldova will stay vulnerable to any crisis. This year, marked by a difficult period, we undertook multiple actions to help families. We continued to manage the crisis of refugees and made effort to make sure that, at the end of the year, our country will get the acceptance for the starting of the negotiations on accession to EU.’’ Alexei Buzu said.    

The minister emphasized actions which regard the prevention and combating of the violence against women and the gender-based violence, initiatives which regard the active involvement of elderly people in the social life, as well as the rate of employment on the labour market. ‘’The labour market registers a pretty low rate of employment, of about 40 per cent, which worries us. Thus, this year, about 11,000 people were employed with the support of the National Employment Agency (ANOFM), which is by 20 per cent more than in 2022. At the same time, the minimum salary on the country stood at 5,000 lei, up by 25 per cent against the year before, which will contribute to the increase in salaries for 248,000 employees. We also started the reform of the State Labour Inspectorate. In Moldova, 180,000 people work in the informal sector. Thus, last year, 82 people were established working under the table and following the reform, 200 people working under the table were identified during one month and half. It is important that we formalize the citizens’ labour,’’ Alexei Buzu specified.       

At the same time, the official touched upon the programmes on support and reforms to reduce the residents’ poverty. ‘’We implemented the programme on compensations in invoice for energy. Thus, we received 776,000 applications for providing compensations. We also increased the value of the monthly monetary compensation from 700 to 800 lei. At the same time, the number of beneficiaries increased, with a number of 260,000 households benefiting from monthly compensations registered,’’ Buzu stressed.     

Attending the news conference was also MP Marina Morozova, who said that, in this year, the ministry’s work had been focused on backing the families with children and people in need of assistance. ‘’Stating from the next year, the single child-birth allowance will be 20,000 lei (about 1,000 euros), against 10,932 lei at present. At the same time, the families with children aged up to 2 years additionally receive by 1,000 lei monthly. Also, the crèche services for children are constantly developed,’’ the lawmaker also said.    

The officials unveiled also other measures of support for more categories of citizens, carried out during the year. They gave assurances that ‘’the reforms in the social sector will continue, in order to further provide the citizens with support.’’