● TUESDAY, April 21

Over 100 homemade wines to be exhibited for tasting at “Golden Barrel” Festival

About 40 homemade wine producers who took part in the “Golden Barrel” contest will exhibit for tasting over 100 homemade wines at the festival with the same name that will take place in Raciula, Calarasi on April 25. Besides wine tasting, the festival will include performances by folkloric ensembles from the central districts of the country, gastronomic theater activities, gastronomic contests between housewives and recreational contests to assemble and roll barrels. Valeriu Lazar, chairman of the Chamber of Trade and Industry that organizes the event, told a news conference that the winners of the contest “2015 Golden Barrel” will be awarded within the festival. The contest has been held for 12 years and the winners are selected by a professional jury. The consumers will also be able to vote for the preferred wine using special tickets incorporated in the festival tickets.

Tastiest homemade biscuits to be awarded at “Golden Ladle” Festival

Housewives and househusbands from all over the country are invited to present their homemade biscuits at the second contest “Golden Ladle” that will take place within the “Golden Ladle” Festival in Raciula village of Calarasi district on April 25. Contest organizer Tamara Schiopu said that in Moldova there are many national titles for the best wines, the best companies, the best personality and the best song, but the national cuisine is ignored. “We would like those who win this trophy to have chances of continuous promotion and sale. This way we support the local entrepreneurs. In all the countries the talented housewives or househusbands, with good recipes for cakes, cans and drinks, have the possibility of showcasing their talents and of developing businesses based on them. Why shouldn’t we do so in Moldova too?” she stated.

● WEDNESDAY, April 22

Half of profit of state-owned companies will be transferred to budget

Half of the net profit made by the state-owned companies and joint stock companies with complete or majority state capital in 2014 will be transferred to the state budget, no matter whether these economic entities can be privatized or not. The Ministry of Finance, which put forward the draft decision, explained that the state, as the owner or majority shareholder of companies with state capital, must unconditionally benefit from a part of the profit made by these entities, in the form of dividends or deductions, given the economic and financial situation in the country, the decline in exports following the lower demand on the foreign markets and the regional crisis with direct impact on the investment climate of Moldova.

Central bank provides details about investigation conducted by Kroll

The National Bank of Moldova said the preliminary investigation into the alleged financial irregularities at Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank, which was carried out by Kroll Associates UK Limited registered in the UK, selected at a contest this January, was completed. The bank said that during the investigation, the Kroll experts used the information and analyses provided by the institution and the special administrators of the three banks. Kroll assessed the central bank’s conclusions and the identified irregularities. It also analyzed the sources of the information furnished by the National Bank of Moldova to verify the evidence based on which particular conclusions were drawn and to establish the nature of the additional investigations needed. The results of the preliminary investigation by Kroll shows that a coordinated and hidden effort was made in 2012-2014 to take control of the three banks and afterward to hide the true nature of the transactions. The volume of released loans was maximized. As a result, the financial situation of the three banks worsened suddenly and there were recorded bad loans and debts of 13.3 billion lei.

Government aims to reduce reporting effort of economic entities

The strategy and plan of action for improving the National System of Reporting to state institutions was approved by Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici. The strategy was worked out by a working group consisting of representatives of a number of ministries, the National Bureau of Statistics, the National House of Social Insurance, the National Health Insurance Company, the State Tax Service and the Electronic Governance Center. The working group will formulate a series of proposals for reducing the number of taxes and duties and for simplifying the calculation methods by unifying the calculation base for a number of taxes. There will be implemented a simpler reporting system for micro-enterprises, which represent over 40% of all the companies.

● THURSDAY, April 23

They have stolen shamelessly during 25 years, expert

It’s impossible for the entire sum stolen from Banca de Economii to have been taken out of the country during several days, considers economic expert Viorel Garbu. He made related statements in the talk show “Pahomi” on Realitatea TV channel. “They say the theft was committed shortly before the parliamentary elections. It’s impossible for all the money to have been taken out of the country. First of all, they stole Moldovan lei that were to be converted into foreign currency. Moldova’s currency market is small and it’s impossible to convert such a large sum in several days. Moldova’s annual exports total 2 billion lei. Maybe there were performed a number of transactions. Banca Sociala couldn’t have released loans of 13 billion lei in cash, as the Parliament’s commission of inquiry ascertained. It was impossible for such a large sum to have existed in the bank’s deposit boxes. Most probably, the money was transferred,” said Garbu.

Transnistrian leader: Crisis could be overcome by end-2016

The crisis faced by the Transnistrian region could be overcome by the end of 2016, anticipated the leader of Transnistria Yevgheny Shevchuk. He stated for a local TV channel that the period between May and September this year will be probably the most difficult one for fulfilling the budget. According to Yevgheny Shevchuk, in 2015 the Transnistrian budget can lose about US$100 million owing to internal and external crisis factors. He reminded about the proposal to introduce the Russian ruble into circulation in the region in parallel with the Transnistrian ruble. “We may return to this idea when we overcome the current economic and financial crisis,” he stated. The Transnistrian leader also said that the economic and budgetary situation in the region is influenced by the politically motivated decisions of Ukraine, including the restriction of the importation of goods into the region and the fact that the mechanism of commercial exchanges between Chisinau and Tiraspol hasn’t been yet adjusted.

Turnover on electronic communications market up 2.4%

Revenues on the electronic communications market (mobile telephone, landline, mobile Internet access, broadcasting and retransmission of audiovisual programs) in 2014 rose by 2.4% on 2013 to over 6.8 billion lei. Sales from Internet access services increased by 18%, while from other electronic communications services – by 26.5%, the national ICT regulator (ANRCETI) has said. Investments in this sector in 2014 witnessed grew by 84%, from 1.29 billion lei in 2013 to 2.37 billion lei in 2014. The largest investments were made in the mobile communications networks. Of this sum, about 1 billion lei was transferred by the three mobile phone carries (S.A. “Orange Moldova”, S.A. “Moldcell” and S.A. “Moldtelecom”) to the state budget for being issued with new licenses for using radio frequencies for a period of 15 years.

● FRIDAY, April 24


EIB opens representative office in Moldova 

The European Investment Bank (EIB) wants to increase the volume of investments in Moldova because it is interested in supporting the country’s European perspective, EIB Vice President Wilhelm Molterer said in Chisinau after the signing of the agreement to set up the EIB Representative Office in Moldova. Wilhelm Molterer said that Moldova tops the EaP rankings by the volume of EIB investments per capita and the opening of a representative office of the European Investment Bank in Moldova is an important step both for Moldova and for the Bank. The official noted that the EIB is interested in investing in the modernization of road and railroad infrastructure and in agriculture and in supporting the small and medium-sized companies so that the business sector and employees maximally benefit from the advantages offered by the Free Trade Agreement with the EU. He underlined the importance of the energy efficiency projects, stressing that the regions and municipalities should be involved in this exercise.

Economy minister: Moldova can borrow Polish economic model 

The Polish economic model is an example of success that can be borrowed by Moldova, Minister of Economy Stephane Bride said in a meeting with Poland’s Ambassador in Chisinau Artur Michalski. Stephane Bride thanked Poland for the constant support provided to Moldova, underlining the importance of the Polish expertise for the Moldovan authorities. “The Polish economic model can be used by Moldova on its path of European integration, especially in improving the investment climate,” said the minister. For his part, Artur Michalski noted the importance of increasing the visibility of Moldova in the Polish business environment, especially for companies working in the neighboring countries Romania and Ukraine.