Government staffing expands despite calls for restraint
Prime Minister Vasile Tofan’s Government of Moldova is recruiting additional staff even as citizens are being urged to cut spending amid higher tariffs and inflation. The Government and State Chancellery Communications Directoratehas announced new vacancies, with Tofan’s press secretary Dumitru Chorich citing what he described as a “gigantic” workload and a shortage of communications specialists.
Chorich, who was appointed press secretary on 22 July, said he had been surprised by how few people were working in the communications team.
“Attention, vacancy! Many things surprised me when I crossed the threshold of the Government. I will probably write about some of them only in my memoirs when I am old. However, one of them directly concerns the field in which I work, information and communications: the volume of work (‘gigantic’ is an understatement), and the variety and complexity of the activities managed by the Government and State Chancellery Communications Directorate contrast sharply with the size of the team, which consists of only a few people. Looking from the outside, I expected to find at least ten people there. The reality left me slightly puzzled,” he wrote.
The expansion in government staffing comes amid continuing economic difficulties and debate over reducing the cost of the state apparatus. According to media reports cited in the article, the government increased the State Chancellery Moldova workforce from 323 to 379 employees in March, allocating almost 16 million lei for nine months of 2026.
Additional spending on increased staffing across ministries over the past month reportedly reached 38.1 million lei. Former Prime Minister Ion Chicu has already criticised the trend, noting that the number of employees at the State Chancellery had almost doubled in four years, from 202 to 379.
“These simple arithmetic calculations show that, while reducing the number of mayoral administrations, the authorities are expanding staffing in central government institutions,” Chicu said.
Spending priorities face criticism
The National Moldovan Party has also contrasted increased government staffing with limited increases in social payments. According to the party, pensions were raised by only 51 lei from 1 April, with a shortage of available funds cited as the justification.
“The authorities are creating new positions to manage poverty rather than solutions to reduce it. Instead of strengthening support for children, elderly people and vulnerable families, they are expanding structures that will mainly prepare reports about these problems,” the party said.
Chorich nevertheless argued that the government required more resources if it was to meet expectations and improve its communications.
“Come and help the Government communicate better and faster! I also promise that you will have very good colleagues. When expectations are high, it is important that institutions have the resources necessary to meet them,” he wrote.
The Tofan Government, which has said it intends to make the state “more efficient for citizens”, is therefore continuing to expand parts of its own administrative apparatus while households face higher tariffs and inflation. The question of whether additional spending on government staffing is justified remains open.
