**Table 2. General government expenditures by functional classification, and sources of deficit financing,** **<u>year 2017</u>**

|**Item**|Million MDL|% of GDP|% of total expenditures|
|---|---|---|---|
|Expenditures and non-financial assets|54522.4|36.3|100|
|Generalpublic services|5679.1|3.8|10.4|
|Defense|568.3|0.4|1.0|
|Public order and safety|4041.5|2.7|7.4|
|Economic affairs|5424.9|3.6|9.9|
|Environmentalprotection|146.7|0.1|0.3|
|Housingand communityamenities|1315.3|0.9|2.4|
|Health|7268.7|4.8|13.3|
|Recreation,culture and religion|1333.4|0.9|2.4|
|Education|9681.3|6.4|17.8|
|Socialprotection|19063.2|12.7|35.0|
|Budgetarydeficit(-) /surplus(+)|-1144.8|-0.8||
|Sources of financing|1144.8|0.8||
|Net acquisition of financial assets other than cash|-271.4|-0.2||
|Net incurrence of liabilities|3420.6|2.3||
|Net changes in the stock of cash|-2004.4|-1.3||

Source: Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Moldova, “Report on execution of the 2017 National Public Budget”, http://mf.gov.md/ro/download/file/fid/12576 and authors’ calculations.

Social protection expenditures account for 35 percent of the total budgetary expenditures, followed by education (17.8 percent) and health protection (13.3 percent). Combined, expenditures on these three spheres account for two-thirds of the total, signaling the social orientation of the budget. As official data for 2017 are still not available, Table 3 presents the details of expenditures for the three sectors for the period 2014-2016. Outpatient services are the costliest item of the health protection budget, accounting for around 40 percent of the total resources, followed closely behind by outpatient health services. In the education sector, secondary education accounts for the largest, albeit declining over time, share of total expenditures (around 45 percent), whereas the pre-primary and primary education absorbs around 28 percent of the total resources.

**Table 3. Detailed structure of the social area expenditures for the years 2014-2016, MDL and %**

||**2014**|**2015**|**2016**|
|---|---|---|---|
|Total expenditures,MDL million|44480.2|46540.1|48462.6|
|Health expenditures,MDL million|5890.3|6455.9|6505.5|
|_Including, % of health_||||
|Medicalproducts,appliances,and equipment|0.0|0.0|0.5|
|Outpatient services|34.7|35.9|39.6|
|Hospital services|37.4|37.3|45.4|
|Public health services|20.2|20.0|10.3|
|R & D Health|0.0|0.0|0.5|
|Health not elsewhere classified|7.7|6.8|3.5|
|Education expenditures,MDL million|7823.6|8462.0|8558.7|
|_Including, % of education_||||
|Pre-primaryandprimaryeducation|27.1|29.2|28.2|
|Secondaryeducation|51.0|49.3|45.5|
|Postsecondarynontertiaryeducation|5.6|5.4|10.0|
|Tertiaryeducation|9.0|8.7|8.9|
|Education not definable bylevel|0.2|0.2|5.4|
|Subsidiaryservices to education|0.0|0.0|1.1|
|R & D Education|0.0|0.0|0.0|
|Education not elsewhere classified|7.1|7.1|0.9|
|Socialprotection,MDL million|14145.0|15716.6|17267.7|
|_Including, % of socialprotection_||||
|Sickness and disability|18.3|13.3|15.2|
|Old age|48.4|57.9|64.2|
|Survivors|1.1|1.1|0.7|
|Familyand children|8.9|6.4|9.1|
|Unemployment|0.5|0.5|0.4|
|Housing|1.5|0.9|0.0|
|Social exclusion not elsewhere classified|19.0|9.9|1.4|
|R & D Socialprotection|0.0|0.0|0.0|
|Socialprotection not elsewhere classified|2.3|9.9|8.8|

Source: budgetary executions reports for the years 2014-2016, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Moldova 8