The over 47,000 small and medium-sized companies existing in Moldova have been seriously affected by the economic crisis and disloyal competition in the business sector. Thus, the number of such compares does not rise, while the businesses do not develop enough. Ex officio vice president of the National Employers Confederation (CNPM) Eugen Rodcovan, who also heads the Small Business Association of Moldova, has told IPN that the economic policies pursued by the authorities do not stimulate loyal competition.
Eugen Rodcovan said the Law on Small and Medium-Sized Companies should be adopted as soon as possible as these companies are affected by the exaggerated fines. Some of them go bankrupt when they have to pay the very first fine. “The size of the fine should be proportional to the violation. The fines are of 5,000, 10,000, 30,000 and even 50,000 lei. The small companies create most of the workplaces. But there are also companies with 2-3 employees and such fines destroy these micro-companies,” he stated.
He also said that the number of small and medium-sized companies didn’t change in 2011-2012. Their incomes also didn’t rise as they are unable to sell products to large shops and are marginalized as they have limited access to public procurement contests, compared with the large companies.
In order to improve the situation in the field, Eugen Roscovan considers that the small and medium-sized companies should be issued with long-term loans at reasonable interest. But the interest rates in Moldova are very high. The taxes imposed on small companies should be different as they cannot play according to the same rules as the large companies.
According to the study “Major constraints to the business sector of Moldova”, which was commissioned by CNPM, over one third of the businesspeople said there are monopolist practices in Moldova. 40% of them consider that the anti-monopole legislation is inefficient, while 60% believe that political connections are needed in order to benefit from governmental programs.
On November 12, the CNPM will hold a Forum of Moldovan Businesspeople to present the results of the study and to propose policies for overcoming the major obstacles to businesses.
