Moldova’s economy in 2015 saw a downward trend, while the external sector of the national economy was marked by the economic recession witnessed by the main trading partners in the CIS (Russian Federation and Ukraine, whose GDP decreased by 3.7% and, respectively, 9.9% in real terms on 2014). This had a substantial negative impact on export and on personal remittances, IPN reports, quoting data of the National Bank of Moldova.

The personal remittances of the residents of Moldova also saw a downward trend during the last few years, decreasing from 25.3% of the GDP in 2013 to 21.8% in 2015, especially as a result of the decline in remittances from Russia. The Moldovan leu continued to depreciate against the euro and the US dollar on the domestic currency market. The consumer price index in December 2015 was 113.6% on December 2014.

Moldova’s exports of goods declined during the last few years owing to the decrease in the prices of exported products, while the volumes increased. The evolution of prices on the external markets in 2015 was yet generally positive for Moldova as the prices of the imported products decreased to a greater extent than those of the exported goods.

The implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU starting with September 2014 had a favorable impact on Moldova’s exports to the EU, which rose by 6.1% on 2014, without the goods for/after processing, but this was insufficient to fully compensate for the decline in the exports to the CIS, which diminished by 32.2% on 2014, without the goods for/after processing.

In real terms, the GDP in 2013-2014 and in the first two quarters of 2015 increased, but then decreased in the third and fourth quarters. In general, the GDP in 2015 contracted by 0.5% in real terms on a year before. This was mainly due to the reduction in the agricultural output (-13.8% on 2014), influenced by the decline in the vegetal production as a result of the drought.