ECO-BUS WEEKLY DIGEST 8 February 14. Most important Economy & Business news by IPN
● MONDAY, February 8
Administration of CFM about situation at enterprise
Representatives of the state-owned company “Moldova’s Railways” (CFM) said the situation at the enterprise has been intensely discussed in the recent past. But the created situation does not date from today or tomorrow. “The situation at CFM had worsened continuously starting with 2009. All the taken actions and sometimes the inaction when immediate action was needed led to the appearance of real preconditions for the enterprise’s bankruptcy in 2019 already,” the enterprise’s first vice director for strategic planning Vitalie Mucan stated in a news conference. The situation at the CFM was brought into focus both in Parliament and in society. “It was noted justly that the situation is not good. Regrettably, two very important things were omitted, namely how this situation was reached, including the developments of the last ten years, and the steps taken by the current administration of the CFM to remedy the situation and to give a new impetus to the enterprise,” said Vitalie Mucan.
If impediments are not placed, CFM will return to normality, statement
The state-owned enterprise “Moldova’s Railways” (CFM) is very important for the economy of the Republic of Moldova and its current administration has a strategy and wish to improve things, said representatives of the company, who noted that they bank on understanding and assured that if artificial obstacles are not created, the CFM will return to a normal development path. “That’s why we urge you to continue to keep an eye on us, but to do so that the care shown to the CFM is an additional impulse, not an obstacle to ensuring a decent present and future for the state-owned enterprise “Moldova’s Railways”, the enterprise’s first vice director for strategic planning Vitalie Mucan stated in a news conference. According to him, the enterprise is much more important for the country’s economy for the discussions on the CFM to turn into polemics as this has nothing to do with the interest of the CFM or with the country’s interest in the railway sector.
Romania approves provision of assistance intended for Moldovan farmers
The Government of Romania approved the provision of humanitarian assistance in the form of 6,000 tonnes of diesel fuel intended for Moldovan farmers who suffered because of the drought. The announcement was placed on the Facebook page of the President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu. “We are glad to hear such good news for our country following the agreements we reached with Mister Iohannis. All the necessary procedures are to be performed for the diesel fuel to reach the farmers. We will monitor the equitable distribution of the fuel,” says the President’s posting.
Municipality to stage new tender contest to purchase 100 buses
The Chisinau City Hall will hold a new tender contest to buy 100 buses after the decision to designate ISUZU company to supply the 100 buses was annulled last autumn, Mayor General Ion Ceban stated in the ordinary meeting of officials of Chisinau services and divisions. “All the formalities should be performed this week so that the tender contest to purchase the buses could be resumed,” stated the mayor.
● TUESDAY, February 9
Woman considerably diminishes heating costs after resorting to energy optimization
A woman economizes over 50% on heating after she made her apartment energy efficient. Alina Cebanu from the municipality of Chisinau three years ago switched over to autonomous central heating and thermally insulated her apartment. “We have used the autonomous central heating for three years. Initially, the dwellers were skeptical and not all of them agreed to connect to this system from the first year. We didn’t know what to expect. But during the second year all the dwellers joined in and we have had much lower heat bills starting with the first year,” said Alina Cebanu, being quoted in a press release of SA “Termoelectrica”. The supplier noted that to economize further on heating, besides performing works to connect her system to the horizontal heat distribution system, Alina Cebanu decided to thermally insulate her apartment.
● Wednesday, February 10
Economic impact of corona crisis discussed in a podcast by sic! project
Few expected the pandemic to last this long and many businesses that couldn’t promptly reinvent themselves had to close down. By last June, 45,000 Moldovans lost their jobs, and with the total working hours counted, the loss amounts to an equivalent of 100,000 full-time jobs. These are some of the takeaways from the first episode of a new podcast launched by the sic! project, featuring Doina Ursachi of the Summit Events and economic expert Marcel Spatari as its guests. The moderators, Andrei Lutenco and Eugen Muravschi, learned from their interviewees that the assistance provided by the government was insufficient, slow to arrive and, paradoxically, poorly absorbed by the business community. In their opinion, the government could have offered alternative measures, for the same money, to aid companies and employees more effectively. With the pandemic still around, Moldova should look at EU’s solutions for relaunching the economy.
Damage of millions of lei was caused in activity of Micăuți Quarry, MP
The inspections carried out at the Micăuți Quarry revealed a number of violations in the method of extracting mineral resources. There was identified an exorbitant difference between the quantity of extracted minerals and the quantity declared by the enterprise. This is of over 1.4 million cubic meters of minerals. As a result, as the Inspectorate for Environmental Protection determined, the damage caused by the illegal extraction of minerals came to 684 million lei. The figures were presented by the head of the commission of inquiry into the method of exploiting useful minerals, MP Nicolae Ciubuc, in a news conference. The MP said that as a result of the inspection that ended on January 25, it was found out that the quarry continues to illegally extract minerals from lots that do not belong to it. These are over 20 ha in area and belong to the local public authorities, being classed as farmland. The damage gauged by the Inspectorate exceeds 2 million lei.
Details about cancellation of Dublin-Chisinau flight
A flight to Chisinau from Dublin Airport was cancelled on February 10. The airline Air Moldova said the reason was a historical debt accumulated when Air Moldova was a state-owned company. “Given the restrictive measures in relation to flights introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of financial resources led to the suspension of payments for the accumulated debt. As a result, on February 9, after the 9U 831 Chisinau-Dublin flight, the Airbus 319 ER-AXL aircraft, after landing in Dublin, wasn’t authorized to fly back to Chisinau,” the airline noted in a press release. According to Air Moldova, this is an unprecedented event in the company’s history. An agreement was now reached to deal with this ‘controversial issue’.
Two new nominations in “Trademark of the Year” contest
Business entities until March 31 can submit applications to take part in the 18th edition of the contest “Trademark of the Year” that this year has two new nominations: “Business online” and “Family businesses”. The contest was launched on February 10 alongside the “Quality Award” competition that is at its seventh edition. According to Mihai Bâlba, deputy chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the contest “Trademark of the Year” includes 15 nominations and 14 categories. On April 12-23, a poll will be carried out among consumers. The final score of the competitors will consist of the grades given by experts of different organizations and by consumers. In the middle of May, competitors’ scores will be examined by the organizational committee. In the Moldovan Business Gala set for June, the winners of the contest will be awarded and later those trademarks will be promoted outside Moldova’s borders. The competition’s top prize is the “Golden Mercury”.
Places for spring fairs to be authorized in Chisinau
Places for selling spring amulets, Martsishors, souvenirs and garden flowers in connection with the holidays “Dragobete”, “Martsishor” and International Women’s Day will be available in the districts of Chisinau during February 14 – March 10. Under an order made by mayor general of Chisinau Ion Ceban, the district head’s offices will choose the places for spring fairs and will issue the necessary authorizations.
Regulation on emergency liquidity assistance to be modified
The National Bank of Moldova initiated the modification of the regulation on emergency liquidity assistance. The Bank noted that last November it benefited from technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund in finishing and strengthening the operational framework on emergency liquidity assistance. Following the recommendations formulated by the IMF expert, changes will be made to the regulation on emergency liquidity assistance adopted by the Executive Board’s decision No.343/2019. The current version of the regulation is available on the Bank’s website.
● FRIDAY, February 12
Office to investigate accidents and incidents in transport sector
Parliament gave a first reading to a bill concerning the investigation of accidents and incidents in the transport sector. The law is aimed at improving safety in air, railway and naval transportation and envisions the creation of an office for investigating accidents and incidents in the transport sector. The office will be a central administrative authority managed by the Government. It will organize, manage and coordinate the technical investigations into events in air, railway and naval transport. The authority will compile preliminary and final reports on the results of the technical investigations and will transmit them to the involved sides, those with safety responsibilities and those interested.
So-called “prevention law” given first reading
The MPs adopted a bill that specifies that mechanism of prevention against possible abuses on the part of inspection bodies. The author of the bill said the initiative is a response to the necessity of improving the business environment and of protecting the small businesses from multiple obstacles placed on the path of private businesses. PPPDA MP Igor Munteanu noted that even if the state inspection law contains protection mechanisms called “prescription”, these are not applied or are applied inefficiently. The prescription intervenes in case of minor violations that prevent the imposition of penalties and encourage the formulation of remediation recommendations, by establishing the violations and setting a deadline for remediation. Most of the times, such remediation measures are required of large enterprises rather than of SMEs that actually do not benefit from counseling and periods for the effective remediation of faults.
● SATURDAY, February 13
Maia Sandu asks to equitably distribute diesel fuel donated by Romania
President Maia Sandu requested Minister of Agriculture Ion Perju to work out, in consultation with representatives of farmers, the criteria and mechanism for distributing the assistance in the form of diesel fuel that will be donated by Romania. The subject was discussed by Maia Sandu with acting Prime Minister Aureliu Ciocoi and Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Ion Perju in the evening of February 12. “I insisted that the assistance should reach as many farmers as possible and that that the fuel should be given primarily to those who need it the most so as to help them save their businesses during these difficult times,” said President Sandu. She also requested Minister Perju to find solutions to reanimate the local agricultural consulting services so that the farmers could swiftly get advice from specialists and to also hasten the launch the subsidization mechanism in the animal breeding sector.
Fuel prices raised again
A number of filling stations have posted higher fuel prices. Gasoline and diesel fuel prices were raised by 0.40-0.55 lei a liter, while the price of liquefied petroleum gas is now by about 0.2 lei higher. Currently, gasoline “95” costs 17.65 lei a liter on average, up from 17.15 lei earlier. A liter of diesel fuel is sold for about 10.30 lei, as opposed to 10.10 lei until now. Fuel prices started to grow in the middle of last December and have risen by about 1.60 lei since then. At the beginning of February, the Parliament’s commission on economy budget and finance held hearings on the oil products market. In these, the Competition Council noted that six oil companies that together manage 66% of the gas stations in the country adopt a similar behavior with regard to the modification of prices, which are similar, during 48-72 hours. The analysis of board prices points to a disagreement in the market’s reaction to the international quotations, namely the immediate reaction to the rise in quotations and the delayed reaction to declines.
Ministry of Finance suggests new mechanism for subsidizing jobs
The Ministry of Finance designed a new mechanism for subsidizing jobs, including for persons with disabilities, in a move to increase the number of working persons and to help those who lost their jobs during the state of emergency to be reemployed. The relevant regulations were proposed for public debates. Under the regulations, the enterprises that will hire persons who didn’t have earnings during the past 12 months will get subsidies equal to 50% of the salary taxes, but not more than 1,000 lei a month per employee, during a period of 12 months.
