● MONDAY, November 28
Each second Moldovan uses mobile broadband
The number of mobile broadband Internet (smartphones, modems/cards/USB drives) users in the first nine months of this year rose by 22% on the end of 2015 to over 1.7 million. According to the statistics of the ICT regulator (ANRCETI), the wireless Internet access penetration rate rose to 50%, which means that each second Moldovan uses this service. The data provided by the three mobile phone carriers - Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Moldtelecom–Unite – the number of users of Internet access services based on the 4G technology rose the most in the period – from over 132,999 to more than 296,000. The volume of traffic increased by 19% compared with the corresponding period last year.
Moldova enters Eco-Energetica Week
Moldova enters the Eco-Energetica Week that includes events that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy. The program will end with the Gala Moldova Eco-Energetica and the ceremony to award the best projects in the field. Director of the Energy Efficiency Agency Mihail Stratan said the motto of this year’s edition is “Safe, clean energy at accessible prices”. He expressed his conviction that there are many promoters of this idea and this fact will be confirmed by this weekend. By staging the planned events, they aim to support the most important initiatives to produce, transmit, distribute and efficiently consume energy, to implement, develop and promote modern technologies.
Agriculture subsidization fund to total 900m lei next year
The agriculture subsidization fund in 2017 will consist of 900 million lei, 23 million lei of which will come from the EU ENPARD Budget Support Program. The money will be allocated for investing in agricultural equipment, for restructuring and adjusting the production of fruit and vegetables on protected areas (greenhouses, solariums, tunnels) to the EU standards, for planting, modernizing and clearing multiannual plantations, including vineyards.
Fruit grower seek compensations for frost damage
The fruit growers who suffered losses as a result of this spring’s frosts fear they will be unable to collect the promised compensations. However, officials of the Ministry of Agriculture assure that money will be provided, but with a slight delay. Acting head of UniAgroProtect Federation Alexandru Slusari transmitted a message from fruit growers to the press. This says the promises made by the minister of agriculture in public, before the press, remain undelivered. “The regulations that define the method of providing compensations haven’t been approved yet. Financing sources haven’t been identified. The state showed once again that agriculture is a strategic sector on paper only,” he stated. Mihail Suvac, head of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Vegetal Products Division, has told IPN that the fruit growers will receive the promised compensations, but a little later. “The draft Government decision is being coordinated and will be discussed in the next meetings. The National Anticorruption Center has some objections that need to be examined,” he said. The frosts of April 26-27 this year affected a part of the fruit harvest.
● TUESDAY, November 29
Landline telephony loses ground
The demand for landline telephone services continues to decline. The number of subscribers to such services in the first nine months of this year decreased by 1.4% on the end of 2015 to 1.186. The statistical data of the ICT regulator ANRCETI show the volume of voice traffic in fixed-line networks decreased by 12.4% compared with the corresponding period last year, while sales fell by over 90 million lei.
Information platform on biomass and energy market
Consumers will be able to find comprehensive information about the products on the energy and biomass market on an online platform launched at the Bioenergy Forum within the Moldova Eco-Energetica Week. The platform represents an opportunity for those who want to promote products of this type, placing different announcements. Ion Cozma, vice director of the Energy Efficiency Agency, said the creation of the platform derived from the necessity of ensuring a connection between consumers and producers. The relevant announcements that existed until now had a low level of plausibility. Only producers with quality certificates will be able to register on the information platform and to present the company’s data, which will later be verified.
Fuel prices go up
The fuel price ceilings for the next two weeks, set by the National Agency for Energy Regulation, are higher. The new caps take effect on November 30 and will be used until December 13. The price ceiling for a liter of gasoline coded 95 is 16.30 lei, as against 15.98 lei until now, while for a liter of diesel fuel is 14.21 lei, as opposed to 13.86 lei.
Free international training course with and for Moldovan managers
CBC Romania, together with the Association “100 for Moldova” and the Labor Institute, are staging a free training course intended for director generals and owners of firms entitled “Reorganization of company using a consulting methodology”. The course will be given by CBC Romania manager general Petre Nicolae in Chisinau on December 1-2. According to organizers, the goal of the course is to motivate the top managers of a company to become involved in the reorganization, development and consolidation of the company by effecting own organizational changes inside the company and assuming responsibility for initiating and making all the necessary changes.
● WEDNESDAY, November 30
Socialists concerned that heat and power tariffs could be raised
The Socialist MPs expressed their concern about possible rises of at least 30% in the electricity and heat tariffs as of January 1, 2017. In a news conference, the Socialists said this can happen after the Ministry of Economy signed an arrangement with Gas Natural Fenosa whereby the Ministry recognizes losses of 1.7 billion lei sustained by the power supplier and pledges to cover these at the expense of the tariffs paid by consumers. “The costs incurred for producing heat rose mainly as a result of the irrational reorganization of the thermoelectric complex of the capital city (merger of the thermoelectric plants CET-1, CET-2 and Termocom). Consequently, these enterprises were taken over by incompetent persons, who consciously destroy the thermoelectric complex of Chisinau. Thus, Termocom is now bankrupt; CET-1 was conserved, while CET-2 works at half of its capacity. This leads to a considerable increase in tariffs for consumers,” said Socialist MP Vlad Batrancea. The Socialists also noted that the Government undertook to increase the heat and power tariffs when it signed the memorandum with the IMF. Point 32 of this memorandum provides that the tariffs deviations accumulated by the energy companies are to be compensated by including these in the tariff and these deviations are equal to 2.2 billion lei.
Fair of Eco-Responsible ideas
Eco-Responsible ideas related to renewable energy and energy efficiency – from photovoltaic panels to factories for making insulating materials from sheep wool – were presented at the exhibitions center “Moldexpo” in an event held within the Moldova Eco-Energetica Week. The project authors presented their ideas before potential sponsors, donors and development partners. Alexandrina Shian, the representative of the company Sandilana, said their eco idea consists in the manufacture of natural insulators from sheep wool, which can be used both at home and by production institutions. The material can be used for flooring, walls and ceilings. “The trump card of this product is that it keeps the air warm in the room. It is a natural conditioning system that can absorb the excess vapors in the humid periods of the year and emits them back in the room when it is excessively dry, especially in winter,” stated Alexandrina Shian. According to her, they produce over 2,000 tonnes of sheep wool a year in Moldova, but the textile industry uses less than one fourth of this quantity because it is too hard and rough. Therefore, the largest part of the wool is stored in attics or is thrown away. The thinness, color and thickness of the wool thread do not matter when making insulating materials. Unlike mineral wool or glass wool, this insulator is more expensive, but can be used almost twice longer and is resistant to natural factors and does not emit phenol when the temperatures are high. A natural material is already prepared for different conditions.
● THURSDAY, December 1
Indian pharmaceutical companies interested in Moldovan market
Almost one tenth of the drugs sold in Moldova are made in India and pharmaceutical companies of this country are interested in increasing their presence on the Moldovan drugs market. Representatives of over 30 Indian pharmaceutical companies are taking part in the Moldova-India business forum staged in Chisinau by the Chamber of Trade and Industry in partnership with the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India. Deputy head of the Chamber of Trade and Industry of Moldova Mihai Balba said the event is held every two years and the number of Indian businessmen who take part in it is on the rise. Mihai Balba noted that bilateral meetings will be held after the business forum for the businessmen from the two states to discuss possibilities of importing medicines from India. The prices of drugs made in India are reasonable. All the pharmaceutical products are thoroughly examined and the chances for drugs of a poor quality to reach the domestic market are minimal.
Chicken bought by rigged biddings is from Ukraine, statement
The low quality chicken bought as a result of a number of rigged biddings to deliver it to education institutions and the National Army is from Ukraine, said the acting head of the National Union of Agricultural Producers Associations “UniAgroProtect” Alexandru Slusari. In a press statement, this says the authorities were repeatedly warned about the unequal conditions in which the national and Ukrainian poultry producers work. According to him, at the beginning of this year, when import quotas were imposed on a number of Ukrainian food products, chicken was ultimately excluded from this list. Thus, according to the chicken import statistics for the first ten months of this year, imports from the neighboring state almost trebled.
Changes to 2016 state budget law
The 2016 state budget will be increased by 328 million lei both in terms of revenues and spending without modifying the budget deficit (4.1bn lei). Changes are needed given the adjustment of the budget revenue indexes, the rise in transfers from the state budget to the state social insurance budget for covering the deficit in connection with the decline in own incomes compared with the projected ones and in order to ensure the payment of social welfare and cold-month allowances and the special destination transfers to local budgets. According to the Ministry of Finance, the state budget revenues will rise on the basis of VAT and other taxes levied by the Customs Service on foreign trade operations.
● FRIDAY, December 2
Moldovan-Chinese business forum
The commercial and economic cooperation between Moldova and China is dynamic, said Deputy Minister of Economy Vitalie Iurcu, calling on the Chinese companies to be more active and invest in the Moldovan economy. The call was made in the Moldovan-Chinese business forum that was held within the eighth session of the bilateral intergovernmental commission for commercial-economic cooperation that met in Chisinau on December 1-2. “The organization of such meetings is a very good opportunity for developing our bilateral relations and for extending the mutually advantageous cooperation areas,” stated Vitalie Iurcu, being quoted in a press release of the Moldova Investment Attraction and Export Promotion Organization (MIEPO). Chinese delegation’s head Luo Weidong, deputy director of the Eurasian Affairs Office of Commerce, expressed his optimism about the growth of the Chinese investments in the Moldovan economy given the witnessed upward trends.
● SATURDAY, December 3
Winners of Moldova Eco-Energetica 2016 contest announced
The initiatives to develop eco-energetic technology in Moldova are attractive not only for the private sector, but also for the public one. All the projects that took part in the national contest Moldova Eco-Energetica show that the country is able to develop the renewable energy sector, said participants in the Gala Moldova Eco-Energetica where 16 successful projects to use and promote renewable energy and energy efficiency were awarded by €1,000. Forty-eight projects completed in the competition Moldova Eco-Energetica 2016. The innovative projects to use and promote renewable energy and energy efficiency were submitted by private individuals, public institutions, private companies, representatives of civil society and the mass media. Among the awarded implemented areas are projects in the geothermal energy, thermal solar energy, photovoltaic solar energy, bioenergy, energy efficiency in private homes and the industrial sector. There were also awarded the mass media initiatives to promote the eco-energetic sector.
Evolution of budget and state debt in 2016
The 2016 budgetary year will remain in history owing to the very late adoption of the budget, in July 2016. Between January 1 and October 31, 2016, mainly as a result of the conversion of the state guarantees provided by the National Bank of Moldova, the state debt increased considerably, to 50.2bn lei or about 37.9% of the GDP. The information is contained in an analytical note of the independent think tank “Expert-Grup”, which says that not the size of the debt is the problem, but rather the way in which this level was reached. According to the experts, in only a month of the adoption, in September, the budget needed a substantial review and the spending was decreased by about 2bn lei following the drastic reduction in revenues from foreign grants in budget support and in the amounts of collected taxes. In an as short period of time, on November 25, the Government proposed another bill to amend the budget, this time for utilizing additional resources of about 330m lei that is to be collected as VAT and import duties until this yearend. The two modifications affected mainly the energy, road and subsidization sectors.
IMF Mission to arrive in Moldova next February
An assessment mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will arrive in Moldova in February 2017. The announcement was made in a meeting of Prime Minister Pavel Filip and Ivanna Vladkova-Hollar, head of the IMF mission of experts who visited Chisinau. The Premier said that after the signing of the agreement with the IMF, the EU unlocked financing for Moldova. Thus, Moldova will get €45 million in budget support by the end of this year and another €100 million in macro-financial assistance later, including €40 million as a grant. Besides ensuring access to financing, the accord with the IMF is also a confidence certificate and the Government is now more mobilized and determined to continue doing reforms.
