Budget Transparency in Moldova Is Marking Time

The assessment covers disclosure of information in budget documents, citizen participation in the budget process and the strength of oversight institutions. Parliament’s oversight dropped from “strong” to “moderate”, while the Court of Accounts kept its “strong” rating despite losing a few points. The main cause is the lack of real political will; a two-year delay in adopting the Law on public finances and budgetary-fiscal responsibility prevented a better score.

Expert-Grup recommends an explicit transparency policy for the Executive, the Court of Accounts and especially Parliament, and continuing and expanding Citizens’ Budgets, with a glossary of budget terms. It also urges describing the impact of budget programmes, a separate chapter on transfers, subsidies and state aid to public enterprises, budgeting based on several macroeconomic scenarios, annual reports on implementing Court of Accounts recommendations, alignment of budget classification with international standards, and teaching budget basics in lower secondary school.