● TUESDAY, April 30

Finance minister about new program with IMF

If a new Government is formed in Moldova, a mission of the International Monetary Fund will come in a week to assess things and agree the conditions for disbursing the next tranche of the IMF financing, Minister of Finance Ion Chicu stated in an interview for Radio Free Europe. The official said the Republic of Moldova could receive the last trance of financing at the beginning of next year. According to Ion Chicu, the algorithm is the same. Another mission will come in autumn to set the conditions. If these conditions are met, the last tranche is disbursed. As there is a short period of time between the first mission and the second mission, the last tranche could not be received this year and the program would be extended for another three months. This is an absolutely realistic scenario that is considered by the authorities and this is the basic scenario.

Guaranteed minimum salary in real sector to grow

The guaranteed minimum salary in the real sector of the economy on May 1 this year will rise by 165 lei to 2,775 lei a month. This way, the employees of enterprises, organizations and other institutions of the real sector of the economy will be paid not less than 16.42 lei an hour. Under a Government decision, the guaranteed minimum salary in the real sector is calculated depending on the aggregate rise in the consumer price index and the labor productivity rate. On May 1, 2018, the guaranteed minimum salary in the real sector of the economy was 2,610 lei a month or 15.44 lei an hour.

● THURSDAY, May 2

May 2 is final date for submission of tax returns for 2018

Private individuals can file tax returns for the 2018 fiscal period without penalties by May 2 inclusive. The local tax offices all over the country today work until 7pm. The tax return can be also submitted online by using a digital signature. Those who file the tax returns online pay the tax by inserting the IDNP (Identification Number of a Natural Person) through the MPay service. The taxpayers who do not have a digital or mobile signature can submit the tax returns on paper, using the identity card, or by mail, sending the filled out forms by recommended letter to the local tax office. The taxpayers submit two tax returns for two distinct periods of the year: from January 1, 2018 until September 30 and from October 1, 2018 until December 31. Those who do not present tax returns by May 2 face a fine of 200 to 1,000 lei and a penalty of 0.0336% of the  unpaid sum for each day of delay.

Central bank suggests reducing commissions on payments with cards

The National Bank of Moldova proposes reducing the commissions charged by payment service providers on the payments with bank cards. Under a decision drafted by the Bank’s Executive Board, the commission charged on payments intended for the national budget should not exceed 0.5%. The decision sets the highest commissions that will be charged depending on the type and category of cards. The highest commission on payments with debit cards and credit cards will be 0.5% in case of operations connected to components of the national public budget as of November 1, 2019. In case of operations performed by physically using the card for any purpose, the highest commission on payments with debit cards and credit cards will be 1.8% as of January 1, 2020, 1.5% as from January 1, 2021 and 1.2% as of January 1, 2022. According to the Executive Board, the decision does not apply to business payment cards, cash withdraws from ATMs or desks of payment service providers and payment operations performed by virtually using the payment card or a similar device, except for operations linked to components of the national public budget.

● FRIDAY, May 3

Vadim Brînzan: If a state borrows money from national banks, it means Government is in a difficult situation

The fact that a state borrows money from the national banks shows the Government is in a difficult situation and the banks cannot find investment projects that would generate profit adjusted to a higher risk than the one posed by the Government, businessman Vadim Brînzan who settled in the U.S., a former candidate for the post of governor of the National Bank of Moldova, was quoted by IPN as saying in the talk show “Politics of Natalia Morari” produced TV8 channel. According to him, Moldova’s budget deficit during the past few months exceeded 2 billion lei. “Until last December, the budget was implemented exactly, but in December the budget deficit was of over 1 billion lei. This February the deficit was of about 800 million lei, while in March of approximately 400 million lei,” stated Vadim Brînzan. He noted this happens because the allocations from the social budget, the salary fund increased and half of the citizens work for state institutions.

Larger amounts collected into national public budget

The revenues of the national public budget in January – April rose by 6.3% or 732.7 million lei compared with the corresponding period last year to 12.4 billion lei. The amounts collected into the state budget came to 5.7 billion lei, an increase of 4.6% or 251.3 million lei on January – April last year. The revenues of the local public budgets added up to 1.15 billion lei, up 2.4% or 27 million lei. The sums collected into the state social insurance budget in the first four months of this year totaled 4.1 billion lei, an increase of 6% or 232.7 million lei. About 1.4 billion lei was collected into the mandatory health insurance funds, up 20.8% or 247.1 million lei.

Bank performance rankings at end-March

Moldova-Agroindbank, Mobiasbancă, Moldindconbank and Victoriabank top in descending order the rankings of the commercial banks with the best performance. These banks continued to excel in terms of profitability and market indicators and accounted for about 88% of the profit made at sector level and for 79% of the bank assets. The rankings were compiled by experts of the independent think tank “Expert-Grup”. At the end of this March, the banks with the most solid capital basis in relation to assets were: Eximbank; BCR Chisinau and Commerzbank. The banks with the largest liquid assets were: Victoriabank; Eximbank and Moldindconbank. The banks with assets of the highest quality were: EuroCreditBank; ProCredit Bank and Fincombank. The banks with the highest return on capital were: Moldova-Agroindbank; Victoriabank and Moldindconbank, while the banks with the largest market share by the loan portfolio were: Moldova-Agroindbank; Moldindconbank and Mobiasbancă.