Trade unionists met with the IMF Expert Team

The leadership of the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) and members of the Confederal Committee of the CNSM met on Wednesday, March 21, with the IMF expert team led by Ben Kelmanson.

During the meeting, the trade unionists mentioned about the positive developments of the macroeconomic indicators, the results of the social partnership in the country, the socio-economic issues of the country, and the CNSM achievements on legal and social-economic protection of working people.

“We are following the developments very carefully and we see that the economy of the Republic of Moldova registered a 4.5% increase in 2017 compared to 2016. The amount of collected customs duties grew, various sectors of the national economy have a positive trend, a series of reforms have started, however the wage level is still low. For example, in areas such as education or constructions, we already have a shortage of qualified staff, and wage offers for Moldovan citizens abroad are much more tempting. It is necessary to increase the level of payment. A solution in this respect is to actively combat the shadow economy and wages “in envelopes”, emphasized Oleg Budza, CNSM President.

In his turn, Sergiu Sainciuc, CNSM vice-president, stated that the total wage fund remains insignificant and the average wage for the economy should be at least 6,500 MDL. “We hope the Law on the unitary pay system will be adopted. Unless we increase the country’s minimum wage, we risk ending up without any skilled labour force in the Republic of Moldova, amplifying the migration to countries with higher wages”, he said.

Ben Kelmanson apreciated the dialogue with trade unions as a constructive and open one. “It is important for us to understand the situation, and the information provided by trade unionists is important in this regard. We want to see economic growth, new jobs created, higher wages, but all this depends on the work of authorities and their partners.  You need medium and long-term programs. You need to fight the informal economy and ensure stability for the business environment, transparency in the banking system”, highlighted the IMF official.

Note that the IMF expert team is in a working visit to Chisinau during March 15-27. The mission analyses the economic developments and authorities’ progresses in implementing the program. It will also update the macroeconomic forecast and will discuss the future macroeconomic policies with the authorities.

Department of mass media and international relations of CNSM