The World Bank anticipates that Moldova’s economy will grow by 3.5 percent in 2017, driven by strong private consumption and a good harvest. Strengthening growth in the medium-term will depend on the restructuring of the financial and energy sector and efficiency of public finances. The conclusions were formulated in an event held to present the economic outlook for Moldova on October 2. In 2017, with lower external assistance from the EU, the fiscal deficit is forecasted to remain below the planned 3 percent of GDP.
About 1,000 participants representing over 20 states will take part in the fourth Moldova Business Week that was held in Chisinau during October 3-6, 2017. Deputy Prime Minister Octavian Calmac, Minister of Economy and Infrastructure, in the opening of the event said the Republic of Moldova is now much more prepared to attract foreign investment to the national economy than the previous years. The opening also involved Prime Minister Pavel Filip and Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Peter Michalko. On October 4, there was staged a Moldovan-Italian investment forum, while on October 5 a Forum of Exporters that involved foreign businesspeople and investors. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodimir Groisman took part in the event on its last day.
Before the Eastern Partnership Summit that will take place in Brussels on November 24, the political situation in Moldova was again debated in the European Parliament, on October 3. EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Christos Stylianides, who was speaking on behalf of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, said the EU will “closely monitor” the implementation of Moldova’s controversial new electoral law, noting that the suggestions made by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have not been addressed by the new law. In the debates, some of the MEPs pleaded for suspending the €100 million in macro-financial assistance, while others asked that the money should be allocated so that the reforms could be continued.
The Chisinau Appeals Court on October 4 modified the sentence in the case of the ex-head of the Municipal Transport Division Igor Gamretski, giving this a three years’ suspended sentence. By its judgment passed on August 3, the Chisinau Court sentenced Gamretski to two years in a semi-closed jail. The sentence can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice within 60 days. Igor Gamretski is accused of influence peddling when choosing companies that were to build pay parking spaces in Chisinau. The suspended mayor Dorin Chirtoaca is investigated in the same case.
Prime Minister Pavel Filip and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Groisman, who was in Moldova on an official visit, on October 6 signed a roadmap for developing the Moldovan-Ukrainian cooperation for 2018 and two bilateral agreements – on the readmission of persons who stay illegally and on joint control of persons, units of transport and goods at joint Moldovan-Ukrainian state border crossing points. The second agreement envisions the creation of joint checkpoints along the common border. Volodimir Groisman said there will also be signed other documents that will bring the two states closer. These include an agreement on transport that will simplify the drivers’ access to Ukraine.
Deputy minister of finance Maria Caraus and three businesspeople on October 6 were rested for 72 hours on suspicion that they attempted to fix public tender contests. According to the National Anticorruption Center, the deputy minister, knowing that 15 million lei from the reserve fund was recently allocated by a Government decision for equipping the National Clinical Hospital, tried to convince persons from the hospital’s administration that the transfer of this money depends exclusively on her decision and they should offer her a recompense for the hospital to benefit from this money. She also promised to favor the allocation of a similar sum for the repair and renovation of the hospital. The decision was to be taken in September-October 2017, when the state budget was to be rectified. The deputy minister also requested the person in charge of the medical institution to favor representatives of building companies at the public tender contest that was to be held on October 11, 2017. For choosing these as winners, Maria Caraus promised 5% of the allocated sum to the institution’s representative and she intended to take another 5%.
More than 120,000 budget-funded employees working in such areas as education, culture and arts, health and social assistance, physical education and sports, science and innovation will benefit from a 10% increase in salaries. The salaries of service members, police officers and other employees of the national defense, state security and public order sectors will also be raised. A bill to this effect was passed by Parliament in the final reading on October 6. The salaries will be increased in two stages – for about 50,000 education sector employees, including of sports schools, as of September 1 this year, while for the rest from January 1, 2018. In money terms, the pay raises will represent 100 to 200 lei.
Selection by Maria Procopciuc, IPN
