July 18 (SeeNews) - Moldovan president Igor Dodon on Tuesday promulgated a law which envisages reducing the number of lawmakers and ministries with the aim to improve their performance and cut spending in the central administration.
"I have promulgated a government reform bill which will lead to a reduction in the number of ministries and optimisation of the executive administration expenditures. I have always been in favour of cutting the number of officials because it is wrong to keep the same number of high-ranking officials for 25 years," Dodon said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The new legislation, which parliament passed on July 7, brings down the number of lawmakers to 71 from 101 at present and reduces the number of ministries from 16 to no less than eight.
"Over the time, Moldova has lost one-third of its population, while the number of bosses has remained the same. This imbalance had to be corrected and this legislation is the first step in this direction," Dodon added.
Prime Minister Pavel Filip is expected to propose a new structure of the cabinet of ministers to parliament by the end of July.
The tiny landlocked ex-Soviet state of Moldova has a population of some 3 million people has strong historical and political ties with its western neighbour Romania, with more than 75% of the population speaking Romanian.