“Moldova definitely needs another minister of economy because the man is detached from reality and focuses on goals that at present cannot contribute at all to saving the economy,” said the executive director of the Farmers’ Force Association Alexandru Slusari, who harshly criticized the results presented on Tuesday by Deputy Prime Minister Dumitru Alaiba, Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization, IPN reports.
“With great fanfare, the minister said that Moldova ends the year 2023 with an economic growth of 1.5%. The country’s GDP was by 0.4% lower in the first nine months of 2023, compared to the same period of 2022, when the national economy plummeted by over 10%. In Romania, for example, the economy in the first nine months of 2023 grew by 2.2%. In the situation in which Moldova is now, we need 10 years with an annual GDP growth of 8-10%,” stated Alexandru Slusari.
In his opinion, it is ridiculous when the minister of economy tells with such pathos about the intransigent struggle with patent holders and the complaints book at a time that the national economy is on the rocks. The former MP said he expected to hear measures to solve the problem of the huge trade deficit from Dumitru Alaiba. According to him, imports exceed exports almost 2.5 times, with re-exported goods representing over 30%.
“I wanted to know how the Ministry contributes to the demonopolization of the economy and why the Competition Council led by a person promoted by Dumitru Alaiba remains dead. After almost three years of government, what do you lack to combat abuses and cartel agreements on Moldovan markets? Perhaps you do not have enough votes in Parliament to amend the legislation? Maybe you are afraid of Vaja Jhashi, because he has four citizenships and double identity?” asks Alexandru Slusari.
He also said that he was curious to hear the minister’s opinion on the relations between supermarkets and suppliers of agri-food products, especially those that operating in the small and medium-sized businesses sector. According to him, the government amended the law that should combat unfair commercial practices of supermarkets in relation to producers that supply these with goods. “You removed from this normative document, which was fully compliant with European standards, the concrete capping of the bonuses that retailers can demand from suppliers of agri-food products. Recently (MP) Radu Marian organized hearings in Parliament on the implementation of these changes and he himself ascertained that the law does not work and supermarkets continue to demand bonuses of 30-40% from producers,” said Alexandru Slusari.
In a press conference, Dumitru Alaiba spoke about the reforms initiated to ensure accelerated economic growth . “It has been a year during which we promoted ambitious economic reforms that our country needs. It is important to stimulate rapid economic growth so that we can provide the necessary support to improve the quality of life of people. To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization’s team aims to support entrepreneurs to create new highly-paying jobs and added value. We set the goal of turning Moldova into the most business-friendly country in the region,” the minister said on Tuesday. In the same connection, Dumitru Alaiba noted that over 90% of patentees have transitioned to independent activity or LLC.
