● MONDAY, December 1

Banca de Economii returns under state property

Banca de Economii was transferred back under state property based on a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice, the governor of the National Bank of Moldova Dorin Dragutanu announced in a press briefing on December 1. “More details will be available after the publication of the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision concerning the annulment of the decision to increase the registered capital of Banca de Economii of August 2013. What is important is that the state owns again the majority holding of 56.13% in Banca de Economii,” stated the governor.

Central bank names special administrator at Banca de Economii

The National Bank of Moldova ordered appointing a special administrator for managing Banca de Economii until a new administration board is named. The measure follows the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision to transfer back Banca de Economii under state ownership, with a majority holding of 56.13% of the bank’s registered capital. During the special administration, the rights and obligations of the shareholders, the management committee, the acting president and the administrator of the bank will be suspended and will be fulfilled by the special administrator named by the National Bank. The central bank’s governor Dorin Dragutanu told a news conference on December 1 that the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision concerning Banca de Economii became known in the evening of November 27, but wasn’t made public so as not to allow some of the election runners to use it for electoral purposes. Details over this case will be presented after this decision is published.

● TUESDAY, December 2

Sales of fixed Internet access services on the rise

The number of subscribers to fixed wireless Internet access services in January – September this year rose by 6.6% to 497,700. The sales of such services increased by 15.7% to 731 million lei, the national ICT regulator ANRCETI has said. The largest number of subscribers chose Internet connection speeds of 30 to 100 Mbps. The lowest number of subscribers preferred speeds of over 100 Mbps. According to the ANRCETI report, the largest part of the revenues of the providers of fixed Internet access and data transmission services – over 689 million lei – came from the sale of Internet access services.

Moldovans speak less on landline

Sales of fixed-line phone services in the first nine months of this year fell by over 10% to 754.8 million lei. The total volume of traffic in the landline phone networks came to 1.9 billion minutes, being also lower. The decline in the voice traffic and in the revenues from sales of fixed-line phone services was somehow offset by the insignificant rise in the number of subscribers. The increase in the total number of subscribers is due exclusively to the 23 alternative providers that in the period connected over 12,200 new customers (+1%) to their networks. On October 1 this year, they had 118,500 subscribers.

● WEDNESDAY, December 3

Average official salary for 2015

The average monthly official salary for 2015, proposed by the Government based on the macroeconomic indicators, is 4,500 lei. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the average official salary (in all the areas of activity) this September was 4,267 lei. The highest average salary was paid in the telecommunications sector (7,641 lei), while the lowest one in agriculture, pisciculture and forestry.

Agreements to be submitted to Parliament for ratification

The Cabinet will tender the lending agreement between Moldova and the EBRD for the project to buy trains and to restructure the railroad infrastructure, which was signed in Chisinau on November 14, 2014, to Parliament for ratification. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) offers Moldova a loan of €52.5 million for restructuring the infrastructure of the state-run railroad company “Calea Ferata a Moldovei”. The money will be used to co-finance the purchase of ten new multipurpose trains and the rehabilitation of the railroad infrastructure. The European Union co-finances the purchase of trains with an investment grant of €5 million through the Neighborhood Investment Facility.

10 companies from eco-energy sector looking for funding

Ten companies have presented their investment projects before potential backers at the Fair of Eco-Responsible Project Ideas in Chisinau on December 3. The most successful projects could receive financing from the investors attending the event, which included banks, investment funds and development partners. Energy Efficiency Agency director Mihail Stratan sad the companies that will convince the investors that their project is feasible will be able to get state-guaranteed loans in advantageous conditions. “In a relatively short period of time, since October 28 until November 28, there were submitted 21 projects. The best ten were selected for being presented, but all of them can get financing. Such projects show that Moldova can have a bright energy future,” he stated.

● THURSDAY, December 4

Number of subscribers to pay television goes down

Statistics concerning the evolution of the pay television services market in the first nine months of this year show that the total number of subscribers to pay television decreased by over 4,300 (-1.5%) to 282,100, while sales diminished by 2.4 million lei (-1.9%) to over 121.9 million lei. According to the data of the National Energy Regulation Agency, at the end of the third quarter of this year, 75.1% of the users to pay television were subscribed to cable TV, 21.5% to IP TV, 6% to satellite TV, while 0.8% to the MMDS networks.

Leanca about BEM: Salaries, pensions, deposits and all the other benefits are safe

Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said the situation in the baking system of Moldova, especially at Banca de Economii (BEM), will be examined by the national law enforcement bodies and by international companies, at the Government’s request. He assured the people that their bank deposits are safe. “First of all, given that our duty is to protect the deposits of the Moldovan people, I want to make it clear – the salaries, pensions, deposits and all the other benefits are safe. It’s yet clear that our baking system is rather weak and vulnerable and the causes for such vulnerability must be looked for in Moldova, in the decisions taken, some of which probably with delay, by our competent institutions or in the fraudulent or defective management of some banks,” the Premier said in a program on the public TV channel Moldova 1.

● FRIDAY, December 5

Two mobile phone carriers will use new frequencies 

Orange Moldova and Moldcell will implement new radio frequency plans starting with December 5. On the night of Friday to Saturday, between 11pm and 6am, temporary technical glitches are possible in the networks of the two carriers. The operators will switch over from the old plan of frequencies in the 900 MHz, based on the licenses that expired recently, to the new plan of frequencies in the same band, based on the licenses issued by the ANRCETI this August. This is a novelty for Moldova. Both of the carriers will do it simultaneously so as to avoid reciprocal interference. By implementing the new plans of frequencies in the GSM radio access networks, the process of re-planning and reallocating radio frequencies in the 900 MHz band for providing public land mobile communications services and networks will be completed. The mobile communications networks 3G and 4G, which use radio frequency bands ranging from 2100 MHz to 2600 MHz, will not be affected.

Young entrepreneur reveals scam in agriculture 

Andrei Cotofan, a young entrepreneur who started an agricultural business in Moldova together with a British investor, in a news conference reported a swindling scheme by which his company SRL Favoris Grup lost its property to the value of 9 million lei for a debt of 700,000 lei. According to Andrei Cotofan, in 2013 Favoris Grup borrowed 380 tonnes of food wheat to the value of 950,000 lei from SRL Crown. The wheat was afterward delivered to a company that went bankrupt and Favoris Grup ran into financial difficulties, but managed to pay 250,000 lei of the debt to SRL Crown. However, this company sued Favoris Grup and, profiting from particular clauses from the contract, claimed 4.7 million lei from Andrei Cotofan’s company. He managed to reach an amicable agreement with the creditor, in the presence of the judge, and agreed to pay 1.6 million lei.

Transnistria’s exports to EU will fall by 25% without DCFTA, study 

Transnistria’s exports to the European Union will decrease by over 25% if Tiraspol further refuses to implement the provisions of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) between Moldova and the EU. The region’s total exports will decline by over 7% and this will lead to a series of economic problems in the region, Adrian Lupusor, executive director of the think tank “Expert-Grup”, said when presenting the study “Economic implications of the Association Agreement with the EU for the Transnistrian region: solutions for overcoming challenges”. Adrian Lupusor said that now the companies from the Transnistrian region benefit from trade in preferential conditions with the EU. Therefore, 60% of the region’s exports are aimed at the EU market. When these conditions are liquidated, the region’s economy will be directly affected if Tiraspol rejects the DCFTA between Moldova and the EU.

PGO started to investigate actions of former administration of BEM 

Following an application filed by the special administrators of Banca de Economii (BEM) and Banca Sociala, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) started to examine the actions of the former administration of the two banks and the decisions taken earlier. There will be analyzed the information about the violation of the legislation presented by the special administrators of the two banks, the information that will be provided by the National Bank of Moldova and the results of the audit that will be carried out at the BEM.

● SATURDAY,  December 6

 Best energy efficiency projects awarded 

Twenty companies, organizations and private individuals were awarded at the third Moldova Eco-Energetica Gala for energy efficiency ideas and projects and for using renewable sources of energy. The Gala was staged by the Ministry of Economy on December 5. In the event, director of the Energy Efficiency Agency Mihail Stratan said the developments in the area of energy efficiency show that this field can develop rapidly and can contribute to reducing the shortage of energy experienced by Moldova. There were handed over awards of €1,000. The winners in the category “Best Solar Energy Project” are the kindergarten of Chiscareni village of Sangerei district, which uses photovoltaic energy, and the Children’s Rehabilitation Center “Tony Hawks”, which uses thermal energy.

Savings of 240m lei owing to renewable energy 

The natural gas consumption in the first three quarters of this year fell by 6.8%. In terms of money, the saving is of almost 240 million lei, Mihail Stratan, director of the Energy Efficiency Agency, said in an interview for Radio Free Europe. Mihail Stratan stated that there is available agricultural waste for producing about 500,000 tonnes of fuel from solid biomass. “We use only 10% of this waste, which is 50,000 tonnes. There are over 100 companies that make fuel from solid biomass in Moldova and the biomass is now widely used in our country. If we used the whole biomass available, we would replace about half of the annual natural gas imports,” he said.

Crops sowed in autumn will not resist temperatures under minus 12°C 

The crops sowed in autumn didn’t manage yet to sprout and the temperatures lower than minus 12°C can affect them, the head of the Association of Grain Producers Nicanor Buzovoi has told. The danger will disappear if is snows and there is a layer of snow to protect them. There was sleet and snow this week. On a large part of the country’s territory, the precipitation didn’t exceed 1 mm, which is 10% of the weekly norm. On the largest part of the territory, the ground frost last weekend affected the soil at a depth of 1-7 cm. In parts the ground didn’t freeze.

Mechanisms for improving regulatory framework for business must be reviewed, experts 

Over the last four years, the Government has shown openness for the private sector to become involved in decision making. But this tendency has been insufficiently anchored. The taken decisions often didn’t take into account the problems faced by companies, Dumitru Budianschi, program director at the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup”, said. “There are paradoxical situations when simple or even banal problems cannot be solved during many years. For example, the ecological tax for a CD is not paid for the cost of the CD, but for the product imprinted on the CD. This is absurd,” stated Budianschi. According to the expert, such things have been discussed for many times, but, as long as the institutions that interact with the private sector allow only a formal participation of the private sector in dialogues on the addressed problems, there will be no improvements.