With Slovak support, Moldova has decided to introduce a pilot project to better manage public budgets in the education sector, kicking off a series of public finance reforms expected to lead to savings and impact where people need it the most.

Finance experts from Slovakia recently trained Moldovan officials as part of UNDP’s on-going cooperation with the Slovak Ministry of Finance. Participants fine-tuned their grasp of government data, created budgets from scratch and learned how to make their books more transparent and understandable to broader audiences.

Sound and transparent public finance are seen as one of the key pillars of efficient governance. Opening up public finances to members of parliament and the general public is understood as a key measure to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Having faced a similar evolution in the 1990s, Slovakia is in a strong position to assist Moldova with the revival of its local government capacity and could help advance local tax reforms there. Over the last two years, the Slovak Ministry of Finance recommended 184 measures across sectors, with the potential to save 400 million Euros. So far, the 108 million saved in the health sector will be reinvested in measures to boost development levels.

Spending reviews became more widespread in Europe after the financial crisis in 2008, when several countries decided to save more public funds and pursue reforms to achieve better results using tighter budgets.

In the course of the project, Slovak experts recommended the Moldovan Finance Ministry establish a centralised monitoring system of all ministries, aimed at controlling spending, improving transparency and evaluating its impact in annual budgets.