December 20 (SeeNews) - Moldova's parliament adopted on final reading the 2020 budget bill targeting economic growth of 3.8% and deficit equivalent to 3.25% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP).
The budget bill was adopted with the votes of 56 of 77 MPs attending the session, a press release posted on Thursday evening on the parliament's website showed.
Moldova's GDP is estimated to grow to 227.9 billion lei ($13 billion/12 billion euro) in 2020, according to the country's budget bill.
Budget revenues are expected to come in at 44.1 billion lei, while expenditures are forecast at 51.55 billion lei.
Budget deficit is seen at 7.4 billion lei.
An average exchange rate of 18.47 lei per euro and a net monthly average monthly salary of 7,953 lei are also projected in the 2020 budget draft.
Average 2020 inflation is forecast at 5.7%.
Moldova posted an annual consumer price inflation of 7.1% in November, up from 6.8% in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics, BNS, said earlier this month.
Moldova's economy expanded by 4.3% year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of 2019, with wholesale and retail the main growth drivers, according to BNS data.
During the January-September period, the country's economy grew by a real 4.8% year-on-year.
In October, the economy ministry said it has lifted its 2019 economic growth forecast to 4.2%, from 3.7% predicted in July.
Moldova's economy expanded by 4.0% in real terms in 2018, mainly on the back of successful performance of wholesale and retail.
(1 euro =19.2097 Moldovan lei)