The President invited the leadership of the PMR Government and the Supreme Council, a number of ministers and deputies, as well as heads of state administrations of towns and districts of the republic to a working discussion organized in a video conference mode. The meeting lasted several hours. They talked about the state of affairs in the economy and the prospects for the further development of the situation. The main attention was paid to large state programs, the scale of which has to be markedly reduced due to the pandemic that violated production, financial, economic and budgetary plans.
The PMR Minister of Economic Development Sergey Obolonik in his report focused on the fact that the realities turned out to be even worse than expected. In April, there is decline in light industry by 40% compared to 2019, engineering - 84%, and the electrical sector - 37%. Initially, decline in production of 5.5% was forecasted, which would lead to reduction in budget revenues by 288 million rubles. Reduction to 10% seems to be more likely - with a corresponding decrease in government revenues now. According to the forecast voiced by the PMR Minister of Finance Tatyana Kirova, the republican budget’s total annual revenue that can be lost may amount to 416 million rubles. The Government proposed to revise the investment programs of the fuel and energy complex, suspend financing of inter-tariff differences, postpone the payment of arrears planned for the current year, freeze or reduce a number of state programs to minimize the increased budget deficit. Taking into account these measures, part of the budget deficit in the amount of 243 million rubles remains unsecured. The meeting discussed the issue of stopping for some time or partially reducing funding for such programs as repair and reconstruction of sidewalks, construction of parkings, street lighting, landscaping adjacent to buildings of educational, cultural, social institutions, acquisition of special machinery and equipment, and modernization of food units educational institutions. Costs associated with road repairs will be cut. After a long working discussion, it was agreed that the Government will designate for each district the amount of the reduction in the Road Fund, and the local leadership will decide which areas will be preferred during this difficult period, and which can still be repaired.
It was noted at the meeting that this year, imports of goods fell markedly: in March by 8.6%, in April - already by 30%. Taking into account that import duty is the main source of filling the Capital Investment Fund, its depletion leads to the need to reduce spending on this socially significant state program, that is, to reduce the volume of work planned for the year. The Head of the Department of Construction, Architecture and Road Facilities Ivan Untu said that the Government had already formulated a proposal to reduce the Fund of Capital Investment Program 2020 by 79 million rubles. At the stage of discussion is the fate of an additional group of objects proposed for temporary exclusion from the current capital investment program (which will save 65 million rubles). The heads of state administrations cited their arguments in defense of certain facilities. The President retained some of them in the current year’s program by his decision. We are talking about several rural medical and obstetrical station, polyclinic in Kamenka district, located in the village of Vykhvatintsy, Rybnitsa District Psychiatric Hospital, and other medical facilities. At the request of Vadim Krasnoselsky, healthcare facilities are not subject to exclusion from the Fund of Capital Investment Program 2020. In addition, Vadim Krasnoselsky insisted on carrying out repair and construction work in kindergarten No. 26, located in the Severny microdistrict of Bendery, and in the table tennis Specialized Children and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Reserve (Dubossary). Another object, which is partially financed from the Capital Investment Fund this year is the Yubileiny sports complex in Rybnitsa. It will not be possible to complete a full-fledged repair yet, but the current roof should be repaired at least in a spot, the President set the task. Vadim Krasnoselsky did not allow the cadet building to be removed from the list of priority objects from the point of view of repairing objects. Among the instructions given by the President during today's meeting, there is also a full commissioning of the gynecological hospital in Sverdlova Street (Tiraspol), in compliance with all norms and requirements. The deadline is two months.
Speaking about the capital investment program as a whole, Vadim Krasnoselsky emphasized that forced reductions are temporary measure. All plans will be gradually implemented. The main task today is to cope with the pandemic and not allow its consequences to destroy the country's economy, the President noted. He called on representatives of the authorities to consolidate efforts to find optimal solutions and implement plans, which, due to circumstances, have to be adjusted.
