ECO-BUS WEEKLY DIGEST August 13-18. Most important Economy & Business news by IPN
● MONDAY, August 3
Stockholm Arbitration Institute bans termination of contract for concession of airport
The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce banned the Republic of Moldova from taking action to terminate the contract for the concession of the Chisinau International Airport until a final decision is made, the concessionaire Avia Invest SRL informed through a press release. The company reiterated that it has been always open to a civilized juridical dialogue with the authorities on any kind of problem, but will not accept a dialogue from a position of force. “We hope the common sense of the Moldovan authorities will further contribute to the settlement of the conflict without additional arbitration being needed,” says the press release.
● TUESDAY, August 4
Study of impact of support measures financed by Agriculture Development Fund
FAO will conduct a study of the impact of the support measures financed by the National Agriculture and Rural Development Fund. The quantitative and qualitative assessment is necessary for the efficient management of the Fund’s resources and for designing or reviewing the subsidization program designed to support agricultural producers. The Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture (AIPA) said it asked for assistance from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Moldova in carrying out an impact study. The assessment will provide recommendations for the new subsidization program that could be used as a basis for a new agricultural and rural strategy.
National Farmers Federation asks to reform central phytosanitary lab
Diana Crudu, of the National Farmers Federation, in the name of the Federation requested to set up a parliamentary commission that would monitor the actions of the National Food Safety Agency and to publicly assume a deadline by which the producers will have access to an accredited phytosanitary lab so as to be able to sell on foreign markets. In a news conference held alongside PAS MP Vladimir Bolea, Diana Crudu said the foreign donors at their own expense equipped a lab whose certificates are recognized by the EU. “The poor management of the National Food Safety Agency, the lack of interest and their non-professionalism, the absence of approaches to the EU institutions that can accredit this lab, the permanent excuse that “they do not accredit us because they don’t like us” instead of starting to fulfill all the conditions imposed by the EU in terms of traceability and safety of meat products brought the meat producers in the Republic of Moldova close to despair,” said the representative of the National Farmers Federation.
Transfers from abroad in second quarter 18.2% up
The money transfers from abroad made in favor of individuals of the Republic of Moldova in the second quarter of 2020 amounted to US$369.77 million. According to the National Bank of Moldova, the amount of transfers, recalculated in US dollars, increased by 18.2% compared with the second quarter of 2019 (US$ 312.72m). The fluctuations in the exchange rate of original currencies against the U.S. dollar contributed 0.1 percentage points to the increase in the value of transfers in the second quarter of 2020. However, the effective increase of transfers was 18.1%, being eliminated the exchange rate effect through the recalculation of amounts at the exchange rate for the respective period of the previous year.
Pro Moldova MPs demand to declare state of agricultural emergency
The MPs of the Pro Moldova group request to declare a state of agricultural emergency and to implement a number of measures so as to save this important sector of the economy and to ensure the country’s food security. “We propose a plan of action that we think the Government can put into practice during 15 days and also came with more elaborate proposals for avoiding such a situation in the future,” the leader of Pro Moldova Andrian Candu stated in a news conference. According to him, compensations of at least 6,000 lei per hectare are needed to survive this extreme year.
Two divisions of Chisinau Municipal Council merged
Two divisions of the Chisinau Municipal Council were merged into one. These are the General Trade, Public Food and Services Division and the General Economy, Reforms and Property Relations Division. The new entity will be called the General Economy, Trade and Tourism Division. The personnel of the merged entities will work until the personnel status of the newly created division is registered.
● WEDNESDAY, August 5
Moldova and CEB sign €70 million loan agreement
Moldova’s Ministry of Finance and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) have signed a €70 million loan agreement to support the Government in its efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its negative impact on health and employment. In a press release, the Ministry of Finance says the loan has two components: health, and support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The loan is provided under the Public sector Financing Facility of the CEB, which offers a flexible and timely use of CEB funds. A sum of €40 million will be provided for healthcare, for the purchase of medical equipment and consumables, rehabilitation and transformation of medical units, mobilization of additional expertise to ensure emergency response to COVID-19.
Moldovan sanatoriums in Ukraine will have new statutes of work
The State Chancellery of the Government of the Republic of Moldova started to restructure the Moldovan facilities situated on the territory of Ukraine, namely the sanatoriums “Moldova” in Truskavets and “Sănătate” in Sergeevka. The Government’s secretary general Liliana Iaconi has told that the restructurings is necessary in order to adjust the statutes of the Moldovan enterprises to the Ukrainian legislation. She said that the new statutes of “Moldova” sanatorium in Truskavets are to be finalized by this Friday. “Ukraine adopted a new law by which it approved the model statutes of such enterprises. The sanatorium in Truskavets functions based on the statutes of 2003 and these should be adjusted to the new Ukrainian law,” stated Liliana Iaconi.
State Chancellery initiates audit at “Moldova” sanatorium in Truskavets
The State Chancellery of the Government of the Republic of Moldova initiated a financial audit at the sanatorium “Moldova” situated in Ukraine’s Truskavets given the more often requests made by the medical-sanitary institution’s administration to be allowed to take out bank loans. “Such requests since the beginning of this year have come very often and rather insistently. The administration said the bank loans are needed to cover particular costs, including current costs and costs associated with the repayment of previously raised loans and other debts. Before allowing taking out another bank loan, we must carry out a professional audit of the enterprise’s financial situation,” the Government’s secretary general Liliana Iaconi has told.
Intimidation actions in metals sector reached apogee, association
The Moldovan Employers Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals Recycling and Collection Association ascertains with concern that the pressure exerted on its members has been intensified and warns public opinion about the unordinary situation created on this market segment. The Association’s president Ion Drăniceru said that on July 23 he made public the fact that they are subject to pressure by a private business entity that wants to take over the metals market. Now the pressure has been increased and a number of member companies of the association and the homes of their managers were searched on August 3. In a press briefing, Ion Drăniceru said that they earlier informed about those actions that were planned and that were based on false denouncements. The so-called Metalferos case features intermediary companies that have contracts with society. It was reported that 16 persons, four of whom were employees of the National Investigation Inspectorate, were arrested, but nothing was said about the persons who work in the metals sector. Searches were carried out at the homes of managers and at offices of enterprises and documents and stamps were seized.
Russia expected to donate several tens of thousands of tonnes of diesel fuel to Moldova
Russia will soon consider the possibility of providing several tens of thousands of tonnes of diesel fuel as humanitarian aid for Moldovan agricultural producers, as President Igor Dodon agreed in a meeting in Moscow with the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak, the Russian President’s special representative for the development of trade and economic relations with the Republic of Moldova.The interlocutors also agreed to organize a new meeting of the Moldovan-Russian intergovernmental commission for commercial and economic cooperation in Chisinau this October and to sign a series of bilateral agreements in this.
● THURSDAY, August 6
Persons accused in Metalferos case investigated outside custody
Prosecutors’ requests to remand the 16 persons arrested in the Metalferos case were rejected by the Ciocana branch of the Chisinau City Court. The judges decided that nine of the accused, among who are the four police officers, will be placed under judicial control, while the other seven will be put under house arrest for a month. The Prosecutor General’s Office said the accused should be remanded in custody given the gravity of the offenses of which they are accused, the social resonance of the case, the circumstances that can make the persons hamper the investigation and the possibility of avoiding accountability. Earlier, a part of them, even if they were arrested, continued their criminal activities. The prospectors will challenge the court decisions and will insist on remanding the 16 in custody. They will also ask the Ministry of the Interior to suspend the four police officers.
COVID crisis has an impact on whole tourism value chain
The tourism industry of Moldova showed promising signs of constant growth during the last four years owing to the continuous efforts to promote destinations and develop products and modernized policies that support the domestic and inbound tourism. The COVID-19 pandemic then started and affected the whole value chain of the tourism industry in Moldova, said participants in the fourth edition of the ANTRIM Incoming and Domestic Travel Forum. Doina Nistor, director of the Moldova Competiveness Project that is financed by USAID, the Government of Sweden and the UK, said the tourism sector faces now a challenge and needs to be revitalized. Since 2016, the tourism industry has developed, reaching a turnover of US$ 500 million both in inbound tourism and in outbound tourism. The costs incurred by foreigners in Moldova alone represent about 80% of the US$ 500 million recorded before the crisis. “In Moldova, we have over 4.4 million visitors, 1.7 million of whom are considered tourists. This is the figure for 2018. The rise was supported also by the visa-free regime, association with the EU, tourism promotion,” stated Doina Nistor.
● FRIDAY, August 7
Personal budget, family and career are Moldovans’ hallmarks in 2020
Moldova is one of the countries whose citizens prefer to invest in realty (36%), business development (27%) and use of financial instruments (22%, except for deposits) and not to keep the money at home, shows a survey on lifestyle and financial views of middle and upper-middle class conducted by the communications company Noblet Media CIS, Edelman affiliate, in partnership with Info Sapiens research agency. As regards personal goals and career opportunities, most of the Moldovans (32%) prefer to work for an international private company. However, a significant part (respectively 17% in each sector of the economy) would prefer to work at the local level, in a private company or in the nongovernmental sector. 13% of the Moldovans dream of starting the own business. As in all the countries, except for Ukraine, the inhabitants of Moldova (48%) prefer to take a minimum number of decisions at the workplace and to devote most of their personal time to friends (30%).
NAER’s reaction to information about water losses recovered by tariff
The percentage value of the technological consumption and losses of water in the public water supply system is calculated based on the received volume of water, not on the volume of water supplied to consumers, the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER) specified following public reports about the value of technological consumptions and losses of water in the public water supply and sewerage system managed by SA “Apă-Canal Chisinau” (ACC) and the damage of 250 million lei caused to consumers. According to the data presented by SA “Apă-Canal Chisinau”, the effective value of the technological consumption and losses of water in 2019 was 34.26% of the volume of received water (68 758 000 m3). The NAER noted that for tariff purposes in 2019, the Agency approved the technological consumption and losses in the amount of 7 525 000 m3 (10.94% of the received volume).
Low temperatures and drought contributed to lower lavender harvest
Affected by the effects of the pandemic, low spring temperatures and summer drought, lavender fields keep breeders afloat. Most lavender growers have completed the harvest. There are a few fields left in the northern part of Moldova, as the rains delayed the process. Farmers with young plantations have collected up to 30% fewer flowers than last year. Those with plants over 10 years old have got almost half of the previous year’s harvest. “Usually, when there is a drought, fewer flowers are harvested, but the quality of lavender oil increases,” said the president of the Lavender Growers’ Association Alexandru Bădărău.
Over 11m lei earned from privatization of public property
Three state-owned facilities were sold at outcry auctions held by the Public Property Agency on August 5 within the new privatization round announced for July 17 - August 18. The sum for the tree facilities – a complex of buildings situated at 99 Decebal Blvd in Chisinau, the Prut Cinema in Fălești town and the Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova - amounts to 11.4 million lei. The money will be transferred to the state budget when the transactions are over.
● SATURDAY, August 8
Official reserve assets of central bank on the rise
The official reserve assets at end-July were US$ 3.285,51 billion, an increase of US$ 91.96 million compared with June 30, 2020, when these totaled US$ 3.193,55 billion. According to the National Bank of Moldova, the rise in the official reserve assets stemmed from the appreciation of the exchange rates of the currencies that form part of the official reserves in relation to the U.S. dollar, to the value of US$45.85 million, and from the interventions on the internal currency market in the form of purchases of currency, in the amount of US$30.00 million.
Romanian Premier says Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline completed
The Prime Minister of Romania Ludovic Orban announced that the works on the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline were finished. “I have good news even if an extremely important investment of Romania hasn’t been inaugurated. This investment is ready,” stated Ludovic Orban. According to the official, the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline is an investment made by Transgaz. Now that it was completed, it allows supplying natural gas to the Republic of Moldova. “We this way offer the inhabitants of the Republic of Moldova an alternative to the Russian gas. It is an extremely important investment that shows Romanian’s determination to be near the citizens of the Republic of Moldova and the Bessarabians,” said the Romanian Premier.
