MONDAY, June 26
Restoration of power supplies from Transnistrian region and weakness of European factor, Op-Ed
Supplies of electric power from the region controlled by the separatist regime to the rest of Moldova were restored on June 5, 2017, as a result of a decision taken by the state-run energy company Energocom. Thus, outside an open tender contest, Energocom negotiated and signed a contract with the Cuciurgan Power Plant (Moldavskaya GRES). The given contract, which wasn’t made public, provides that as of June 7 Energocom will purchase 70% of the necessary electricity from the Transnistrian region. The other 30% are to be bought from the Ukrainian company DTEK-Trading. According to the state-run Energocom, the producer from the Transnistrian region, which belongs to the Russian concern RAO EES, offered a price of US$ 45 per 1MWh. This is by 10% less than the electricity price negotiated with the supplier from Ukraine (US$ 50.2 per 1MWh) as a result of the open tender contest.
Role of European partners in electricity procurement should be strengthened, opinion
In the case of the tender contest to purchase electric power, the European officials were turned into peaceful observers of repeated manifestations of non-transparency on the part of the government, politologist and energy policy researcher Dionis Cenusa says. According to the author, besides promoting the state-run Energocom, the authorities, by their actions, discouraged competition and intimidated the potential participants in the tender contest from Ukraine and the local energy market operators. Dionis Cenusa noted the authorities’ incoherence in relation to the rules of the game is rather a general problem than an accidental one. The European partners are trying, but seldom manage to change the status-quo. This situation is not typical of the energy sector only and can be met in almost any sphere.
● TUESDAY, June 27
BC “Eximbank” bought by large Italian bank
Intesa Sanpaolo, one of the largest banks in Italy, became the majority shareholder of BC “Eximbank-Gruppo Veneto Banca” SA of Moldova. In a press release, the National Bank of Moldova says that Intesa Sanpaolo, with the unanimous consent of the Administration Board, on June 26 signed a contract for the purchase of assets and liabilities belonging to Veneto Banca, including the banks owned by this group in Moldova, Croatia and Albania.
Farmers can file applications for subsidies for this year
As of June 27, agricultural producers can submit applications to get subsidies for 2017. Nicolae Ciubuc, director of the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture, told a news conference that the subsidization fund is of 900 million lei. Given that a debt of 335 million lei had to be paid off, only the remaining 565 million lei will be used to pay subsidies this year. “The debts for 2016 were repaid by the end of March. So, from now on we will focus on the processing of applications and payment of subsidies this year,” stated Nicolae Ciubuc. The state will subsidize the investments made in building hothouses, developing multiannual plantations, including clearing those that can no longer be cultivated, renewing the machines as well as investments in the animal breeding sector, interest rates on loans raised by agricultural producers, investments in post-harvesting, agricultural production processing and in developing ecological agriculture.
Lower fuel price ceilings
The price ceilings for gasoline and diesel fuel were decreased. For the next two weeks, the National Agency for Energy Regulation set a piece ceiling of 16.02 lei per liter of gasoline 95, which is by 0.55 lei less than during the past two weeks. Diesel fuel will cost at most 13.61 lei, as opposed to 13.96 lei until now.
1 leu bills will be gradually taken out of circulation
The National Bank of Moldova on June 27 opened public consultations with the people on the future design of the 1 leu and 2 lei coins after announcing the intention to put a new coin, of 2 lei, into circulation and to replace the 1 leu bill with a 1 leu coin two weeks ago. The announcement about the consultations was made by the vice governor of the National Bank Ion Sturzu in a press briefing. According to the vice governor, the 1 leu bill will circulate in parallel with the 1 leu coin until the stores are used up. The 1 leu bill is no longer efficient as it lost its initial value. “Twenty years ago these bills met the requirements, but now they are outdated. The international practice shows we need a rebranding once in ten years. These banknotes were put into circulation 25 years ago,” stated Ion Sturzu.
● WEDNESDAY, June 28
Russian entrepreneurs to pay visit to Chisinau in several days
A delegation of ten important Russian businessmen and the Russian President’s special representative for entrepreneurs’ rights Boris Titov will make a visit to Chisinau at the end of this week. The announcement was made by President Igor Dodon in an international press meeting entitled “Social resonance” that was held at the Residence in Holercani on June 27. President Dodon said the delegation will arrive in Chisinau for the first time, at his invitation. On June 30, the Russian businessmen will have a meeting with members of the Economic Council under the President, where they will present their companies whose budgets exceed Moldova’s GDP several times.
69% of entrepreneurs think corruption is widely spread in business sector
69% of the entrepreneurs consider corruption is widely spread in Moldova. About 45% said they gave bribe being forced to, while 35% gave bribe out of their own free will to obtain particular benefits. The Public Health Center, the Police and the Customs Service are among the most corrupt public institutions. The conclusions are contained in a study of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul” that was presented in a conference entitled “Corruption fighting in the Republic of Moldova: What can the business do?”. According to the study, the main causes that favor corruption in business are related to the involvement of the political factor, the imperfect, ambiguous and interpretable legislation, direct contact with the public functionary, bureaucracy and incompetence of the administration and inefficiency of the law enforcement bodies. The businessmen prefer to solve the problem by “agreements” with bureaucrats. The unofficial ways usually take the form of money, contacts or relations, presents or pressure.“Viitorul” executive director Igor Munteanu said an integral and democratic system is related not only to the state and governance, but also to the interests of the people and all the players that are interested in winning the fight against corruption. “Corruption is an instrument that is tolerated by the business sector. When the bureaucrats speak about their accomplishments or the Government’s results in fighting corruption, we surely have to look at these with approximation and see what is the business community’s reaction to these accomplishments reported by the authorities,” stated Igor Munteanu.
System for controlling business sector to be simplified
The system for controlling the business sector is to be simplified. The parliamentary commission on economy, budget and finance approved three bills to amend and supplement laws. By these, the number of institutions with inspection duties was decreased from 67 to 18. State control in the food sector to ensure consumer protection, including as regards safety at work and licensing conditions, will be performed by the National Food Safety Agency. The Agency for Market and Nonfoods Surveillance will supervise and control nonfood products, which is all the services, including the tourist ones. The State Labor Inspector will monitor only the observance of the provisions on labor relations. All the competent bodies will monitor the safety and health at work in their areas.
THURSDAY, June 29
National producers protest, say ecological tax is illogical
A number of associations of national producers on June 29 mounted a protest in front of the Parliament Building entitled “Illogical ecological tax!” where they expressed their dissatisfaction with the gradual diminution of the ecological tax for importers. Vitalie Krupenenkov, the representative of the Association of Producers and Importers of Packing and Packed Goods, said they decided to stage the protest after the competent parliamentary commission discussed the bill to reduce the ecological tax for some categories of products in non-degradable or hardly degradable packing. On the one hand, this change would causer losses of millions of lei to the Ecological Fund. On the other hand, it would discriminate against the national producers because these will not be exempted from import taxes on packing.
Mobiasbancă awarded by EBRD
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) conferred the Trade Facilitation Program award on BC “Mobiasbancă – Groupe Société Générale” as one of the most active issuing banks that form part of the Program at the EBRD’s Annual Meeting and Business Forum that took place recently in Nicosia, Cyprus. The bank was awarded in recognition and appreciation of the value of its warranty and documentary credentials issued in 2016 under the Program. Elena Guzun, Mobiasbancă Corporate Banking Commercial Director, said their target is to become even better in 2017 and they are convinced that trade development is an important way of consoling the local economy. “The EBRD’s award for our bank’s trade finance results is another confirmation of the fact that financial products and services offered to local businesses are the most suited to business finance and entrepreneurship development with the support of international financial partners,” she stated.
Agreement to support agribusinesses
The Association of Moldovan Businessmen Everywhere and the National Farmers Federation of Moldova on June 29 signed an agreement of cooperation to support and develop the agricultural sector of the Republic of Moldova. The organizations will make effort to facilitate investment in agriculture, building of silos and product storage places and to also identity new export markets. “We learned abroad what being competitive is, what having access to modern equipment, technology and manufacturing processes means. We learned methods of entering new markets with products of the highest quality. We will implement our knowledge with which we developed businesses abroad so as to put to good use the land on which our parents and grandparents worked. We are convinced that the potential of our country can be realized and want to show that this is possible,” said Alexei Repede, president of the Association of Moldovan Businessmen Everywhere.
● FRIDAY, June 30
Microfinance Cooperative for agricultural producers launched
The Association of Moldovan Businessmen Everywhere and the National Farmers Federation of Moldova announced the launch of a Microfinance Cooperative that will provide microfinance products to meet the necessities of small entrepreneurs working in rural areas, the Federation’s president Valeriu Cosarciuc stated. According to Cosarciuc, the Microfinance Cooperative will work based on the law on microfinance organizations. It will lend or guarantee loans that small farmers will take out from commercial banks. When the organization grows, it will subscribe for shares in businesses.
Meal voucher system could be implemented as of January 1, 2018
Speaker of Parliament Andrian Candu pleads for the implementation of the meal voucher system starting with January 1, 2018. In the second round of public debates on the relevant proposal drafted by the Speaker, which were held on June 29, Andrian Candu said the bill can be put up to the vote in Parliament in the second reading. According to the Speaker, the legislative initiative is to be examined by the Parliament’s commission on social protection, health and family. Work is now done to adjust the recommendations submitted by the representatives of the authorities, state institutions, business community, trade unions and employers. “These are analyzed thoroughly and are included in the concept if a solution is identified,” stated Andrian Candu. In the debates, Democratic MP Valentina Buliga said some of the provisions of the bill arouse concern. Operators that are to issue meal vouchers complained about the exaggerated bidding conditions. At the given stage, the proposal discriminates against some of the categories of employees, including budget-funded ones and those working in rural areas.
Works on Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline decreed ‘of national interest’
The decree to promulgate the law to declare the construction of the Ungheni – Chisinau gas pipeline public utility works of national interest, signed by President Igor Dodon, was published in the June 30 issue of the Official Gazette.
● SATURDAY, July 01
Business entities will present one financial report instead of five
The MPs on June 30 passed in two readings a bill that simplifies the financial reporting process by launching a common reporting platform for the State Tax Service, the National House of Social Insurance and the National Health Insurance Company. Currently, the companies that have employees are obliged to present five different reports on salaries, related taxes and aspects of labor relations. A series of data are doubled and the business entities have to interact with three different authorities, the reports being presented in different periods.
