● MONDAY, October 12

Deposits from Unibank transferred to Victoriabank and Moldindconbank

As part of the measures taken to prepare the liquidation of the commercial bank Unibank, the deposits that weren’t requested by this bank’s clients are transferred in a centralized way to Victoriabank and Moldindconbank, the National Bank of Moldova says in a communique. Starting with October 19, the depositors of Unibank will have access to their deposits at the local offices of the mentioned banks. The initial contract conditions are kept. Thus, those from the subdivisions of Unibank in Chisinau, Balti, Cahul and Comrat will have access to their deposits at the branches of Victoriabank in the given cities, while those from the subdivisions of Unibank in Ceadir-Lunga, Drochia, Hancesti, Orhei, Vulcanesti at the branches of Moldindconbank in the given towns.

World Bank updates economic growth forecast for Moldova

The World Bank forecasts that the Moldovan economy will shrink by 2% in 2015 following a recession in the second half of this year. A study presented in a news conference on October 12 says that after Moldova saw an economic growth of 4.6% in 2014, in the first half of 2015 the growth slowed down to 3.6%. Consumption declined following the decrease in remittances, especially of those from Russia. The depreciation of the leu resulted in higher import prices, while the emergency loans provided to the three banks in difficulty led to a rise in liquidity in the baking system. To cope with the situation, the National Bank of Moldova increased the base rate by 13% to 19.5%. This affects the activity of the companies that do not have resources to develop.

● TUESDAY, October 13

Electronic application for depositors of BEM, Unibank and Banca Sociala

The National Bank of Moldova on its website placed an application intended for each depositor of Unibank, Banca de Economii or Banca Sociala, which allows simply and rapidly obtaining information about the bank that will take over their deposits. Earlier, the central bank announced that as part of the measures taken to liquidate Unibank, the deposits that weren’t asked for by this bank’s clients will be transferred in a centralized way to Victoriabank and Moldindconbank.

Tax advantages should be rationalized to help address challenges of agriculture

Subsidies’ structure has improved significantly over the past years with over 90 percent directed to investment purposes and increasingly serving the introduction of new technologies. The remaining recurrent subsidies accounting for less than 10% of the subsidy budget are not very expensive but not very effective either, says the World Bank Report “Public Support to Agriculture” that was presented by the WB Office in Moldova in a conference. One major problem valid for all subsidies is the small inclusion of small and medium farmers in programs. The existing recurrent subsidies exhibit low efficiency and no long-term impact for the sector. The core public agricultural services are present in Moldova to serve the private sector of farmers, but the effectiveness of most services is questionable due to a series of deep-rooted structural inefficiencies in the existing systems. This is especially the case of key services, such as Research and Education, which are large budget items but offer limited value due to outdated methods and systemic deficiencies.

● THURSDAY, October 15

Moldovan-Romanian intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation meets in Bucharest

Trade between Moldova and Romania and the development of investment projects in industry, energy, agriculture, transport and regional development will be stepped up as a result of a series of measures. The sides reached such an agreement in a meeting of the Moldovan-Romanian intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation that was held in Bucharest. The commission’s co-chairman, Minister of Economy Stephane Bride in the meeting said that the maintaining of the intense pace of the dialogue with Romania represents a priority for Moldova. “The economic relations between Moldova and Romania are rather solid. Since 2014 Romania has been Moldova’s main trade partner. Last year the bilateral trade reached a record level of US$1.24 billion and the projections for this year are also encouraging. In January-June 2015, Moldova’s exports to Romania represented 22.36% of the total exports, an increase of 10.4% compared with the corresponding period last year,” stated the minister.

Turnover of economic entities will be taken into account when planning state inspections

The revenues from sales (turnover) will be among the risk criteria when planning state inspections. Such an amendment to the methodology of planning the state inspections carried out by the Consumer Protection Agency was approved by the Government. Deputy Minister of Economy Octavian Calmic said the turnover allows determining the market position of an economic entity and provides information about the pace of the entity’s activity and its importance in the sector. The revenues from sales measure the economic performance and the volume of operational activity and allow determining the impact of the economic entity’s activity on the consumers.

Conformity assessment and accreditation activities adjusted to European standards

The national legal farmworker on the accreditation and assessment of the conformity of products will be adjusted to the European standards. These amendments and supplements partially transpose the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union that lays down the conditions of accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products. Deputy Minister of Economy Octavian Calmic said the national accreditation body will be assessed by this yearend with a view to signing the Multilateral Recognition Agreement with the European Cooperation for Accreditation. After this accord is signed, the results of certification and inspections carried out by the conformity assessment bodies accredited in Moldova will be recognized at European and international levels. This will enable the Moldovan products and services to freely move on the foreign markets.

Government approves changes to state budget

The Government approved amendments to the 2015 state budget following the adjustment of the budget indicators to incomes, taking into account the recent macroeconomic developments, the forecasts for the period that remained up to the end of this year and the suspension of the provision of foreign assistance in budget support by the development partners. Thus, the state budget incomes will be decreased by 3.9% or 1.186 billion lei, while the costs – by 4.6% or 1.590 billion lei. The main factors that led to the diminution of the incomes are the lower collected amounts of VAT and other payments related to the decline in external trade, the higher than anticipated reduction in imports and the temporary halt in the provision of assistance by the European Commission.

● FRIDAY, October 16

Moldova climbs nine spots in Networked Readiness Index rankings

Moldova took the 68th position out of 143 states in the international Networked Readiness Index (NRI) rankings, climbing nine spots. The data are contained in the Global Information Technology Report 2015 that was launched by the World Economic Forum in cooperation with the European Business Administration Institute. The Global Information Technology Report 2015 features the latest iteration of the Networked Readiness Index, which assesses the factors, policies and institutions that enable a country to fully leverage information and communication technologies for increased competitiveness and well-being. This index for Moldova is higher than the world average.

 Additional condition for insurers selling Green Cards

The insurance companies will be able to sell Green Cards only if they have sold civil liability insurance for motor vehicles inside the country for at least three years. Such an amendment to the legislation was approved by the Government at the proposal of a group of Mps. This provision does not refer to the companies where 51% of the shares or more are owned by one person or a group of persons, each of this having the rating of an international specialized agency. According to the authors of the bill with amendments, the professional experience of three years and the quality of services provided by the insurers will represent an additional guarantee that the companies issuing Green Cards will fulfill the assumed obligations, especially in the monitoring period set by the General Assembly of the Council of Bureaux on July 28, 2015.

National Bank withdraws licenses of three banks

The Executive Committee of the National Bank of Moldova on October 16 decided to withdraw the licenses of Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank and to initiate the process of liquidating them. Under the Executive Committee’s decision, Grigorii Olaru will be the liquidator of Banca de Economii, Sergiu Berghie - of Banca Sociala, while Ruslan Grate – of Unibank. The three liquidators are employees of the central bank. These will cooperate with the law enforcement bodies within the performed investigations and with the representatives of the consortium Kroll and Steptoe& Johnson LLP so that the organizers and final beneficiaries of the dubious transactions are identified and the money stolen from the three banks is restored.