Expert-Grup

Moldova's degree of accountability in managing COVID-19 pandemic funds is low

Tuesday, 25 May 20212600 views
Moldova's degree of accountability in managing COVID-19 pandemic funds is low

Automatically translated summary. The full article is available in Romanian.

The way Moldova's authorities managed funds allocated to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic shows low accountability and transparency, according to the report “Managing COVID-19 Funds”, produced under the international Open Budget Survey research programme. The study assessed 120 countries using 26 indicators of transparency, oversight and public participation.

By late 2020, global pandemic funds had reached about USD 14 trillion. The report finds that over two thirds of central authorities did not manage emergency packages responsibly, nearly two thirds did not follow transparent procurement procedures, about half bypassed legislative procedures, and only around a quarter of national auditors published accelerated audit reports.

The emergency fiscal package approved by Moldova's Parliament in April 2020 (Law No. 61 of 23 April 2020) showed shortcomings in transparency, oversight and public participation. Moldova scored positively on three indicators: aggregate macroeconomic and budget information, funding sources and procurement. Positive examples include Paraguay's dedicated procurement website, 22 countries that published policies targeting women, and Sierra Leone's real-time audit data. Moldova has participated in the survey since 2017; Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup” is the local partner.

View the original article in Romanian