Moldova 2021 SCD Update - Building Resilience and Enhancing Competitiveness

Jul 19, 2026

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Moldova 2021 SCD Update focuses on diagnosing constraints to growth and shared prosperity while outlining pathways to achieve the twin goals of stronger resilience and enhanced competitiveness. The document reviews slowing potential growth, weakening poverty reduction, declining formal employment, and increasingly frequent shocks such as natural disasters. It identifies governance and institutional weaknesses, limited shock resilience and slow adaptation to climate change and digitalization, major barriers for firms, fiscal policy constraints, and persistent service delivery gaps and inequality of opportunity.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages60

Reading Time2 h 31 min

Executive Summary

Introduction

Where does Moldova stand today?

Slowing potential growth and deteriorating long-term prospects

Weakening poverty reduction and declining formal employment

Increasingly frequent shocks, particularly natural disasters

What is holding back growth and prosperity in Moldova?

Governance and institutional weaknesses

Limited resilience and slow adaptation to global trends

Obstacles for firms to grow and create jobs

Limited room for fiscal policy

Gaps in public service delivery and persistent inequality of opportunity

PATHWAYS TO THE TWIN GOALS

Priority 1: Strengthening the rule of law and institutional capacity

Priority 2: Strengthening resilience, particularly to climate change

Priority 3: Improving the business environment to enhance competitiveness

Priority 4: Reorienting public finance to support a new growth model

Priority 5: Improving resilience, efficiency and equity in service delivery

References

Annex: Knowledge and Data Gaps

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Moldova 2021 SCD Update: Building Resilience and Enhancing Competitiveness Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ 3 Team Members and Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 6 A. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 18 B. Where does Moldova stand today?.................................................................................................... 19 1. Slowing potential growth and deteriorating long‐term economic prospects ................................ 19 2. Weakening poverty reduction and declining formal sector employment...................................... 22 3. Increasingly frequent shocks, particularly natural disasters .......................................................... 25 C. What is holding back growth and prosperity in Moldova?................................................................. 27 1. Deep‐rooted governance and institutional weaknesses ................................................................ 28 2. Limited resilience to shocks and slow adaptation to global trends, particularly climate change and digitalization............................................................................................................................................ 30 3. Large obstacles for firms to grow and create jobs.......................................................................... 32 3.1 Inadequate access to key inputs, particularly finance and a skilled workforce, holds back private sector growth ...................................................................................................................................... 33 3.2 A weak business environment limits private sector dynamism .................................................... 36 3.3 Infrastructure gaps and limited digitalization weaken connectivity and market access .............. 38 4. Limited room for fiscal policy to support recovery and long‐term growth .................................... 40 5. Large gaps in public service delivery and persistent inequality of opportunity ............................. 42 D. PATHWAYS TO THE TWIN GOALS ....................................................................................................... 45 Priority 1: Strengthening the rule of law and institutional capacity, including at the sectoral and subnational levels.................................................................................................................................... 47 Priority 2: Strengthening resilience, particularly to climate change ....................................................... 48 Priority 3: Improving the business environment to enhance competitiveness ....................................... 51 Priority 4: Reorienting public finance to support a new growth model ................................................. 55 Priority 5: Improving resilience, efficiency and equity in service delivery ............................................... 56 References .................................................................................................................................................. 59 Annex: Knowledge and Data Gaps .............................................................................................................. 60 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ANRCETI National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information B40 Bottom 40 percent of the income distribution BPO Busines

FAQs

What does the update identify as Moldova’s key economic and social challenges?

It highlights slowing potential growth, deteriorating long-term economic prospects, weakened poverty reduction, declining formal sector employment, and increasingly frequent shocks, especially natural disasters.

Which governance and institutional issues are described as holding back growth and prosperity?

The document points to deep-rooted governance and institutional weaknesses, along with limited resilience to shocks and slow adaptation to global trends such as climate change and digitalization.

What are the main priorities proposed to reach the twin goals?

The priorities include strengthening the rule of law and institutional capacity, improving resilience to climate change, enhancing the business environment for competitiveness, reorienting public finance for a new growth model, and improving resilience, efficiency, and equity in service delivery.

Jul 19, 2026

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