● MONDAY, December 14
Moldova’s exports down 16%
Moldova’s exports decreased by 16% during the first ten months of this year. The exports in January-October totaled US$1.636,7 billion. Both the volume of national goods exported and of those that are re-exported diminished. The exports to Ukraine, Egypt, Lithuania, Russia, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan decreased the most. But exports to Syria, Canada, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and the UK increased. The exports of gas and industrial products obtained from gas in the period declined compared with January – October last year. The exports of meat and meat products, paper, unprocessed rubber, steel and iron, processed plastic materials, medicines and pharmaceutical products, natural fertilizers and minerals also decreased.
Information about road from grape growing to wine selling will be accessible in digital format
The National Office of Vine and Wine, with the support of the USAID Competitiveness Project, and the Czech Development Agency, on December 14 signed a memorandum for implementing the software “National Winemaking and Winegrowing Register”. “We use the European experience in the implementation of this project, especially of the Czech Republic, where such software has been functional for ten years,” said the director of the National Office of Vine and Wine Dumitru Munteanu. The project will enable to monitor the whole technological process, from grape growing to bottled wine selling. Using this software, those interested will be able to find out information about the wine making process, including what sorts of grapes were used and from what areas. All the wine producers and grape growers whose vineyards are larger than 0.15 ha can be listed in the register free of charge. Otherwise, the growers will be unable to supply grapes for wine.
● TUESDAY, December 15
IBAN code to be used for cash transfers from January
The national cash transfers will be made using obligatorily the IBAN code starting with January 1, 2016. In this connection, the Ministry of Finance launched the IBAN code calculator, which allows the taxpayers to access online information about the IBAN codes. The payers will find out the IBAN codes for cash transfers on the website of the Ministry of Finance www.mf.gov.md, by selecting the year, economic classification code, the district where the taxpayer is and the statistic code of the taxpayer’s place of residence, according to the classification of territorial-administrative units. Also, there will be introduced a new type of payment order for budgetary payments.
Over 6,000 farmers seek compensatory grants for apples, plumps and grapes
More than 6,000 farmers from all over the country asked for compensatory grants to the value of over 91 million lei through the Moldova Agricultural Competitiveness Project (MAC-P). The Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture said 36 million lei has been already transferred to the farmers. “All the asked compensatory grants will be fully paid by the end of this year or next January at the latest. Regrettably, the number of applications is much lower than we expected because many farmers sold the fruit without asking for invoices. To receive grants, confirmative documents about the purchases of apples, plums or technical sorts of grapes, issued by the processors, need to be presented,” said Liviu Gumovschi, director of the Project Implementation Unit.
● WEDNESDAY, December 16
Feasibility study for Targu Mures-Iasi-Ungheni highway to be carried out in 2016
Romania included the feasibility study for building the Targu Mures-Iasi-Ungheni highway in the budget for next year. This will be carried out at a cost of 189,000 Romanian lei. In 2016, the Romanian authorities will choose the company that will carry out the study. The money was earmarked for performing the feasibility study of the Targu Neamt-Iasi-Ungheni section. The section is 135 km long. The highway will be called “A8 Montana” and will be 310 km long. Earlier, the costs for building the whole road were estimated at €9 billion.
Bakeries demand that bread prices should be raised
Though there is no shortage of wheat on the home market, the bread makers say they work at a loss owing to the depreciation of the national currency and the rise in tariffs for energy resources. Such information was made public in the meeting of the Parliament’s commission on economy, budget and finance, which held hearings on the situation on the baked goods market. This year there were harvested 925 tonnes of wheat, 60% of which is intended for baking. There are about 500,000 tonnes of wheat on the domestic market, while the country’s needs can be satisfied with 300,000 tonnes. However, the bakeries demand that the prices of bakery products should be increased for the reason that the Moldovan leu depreciated, while the wheat grew dearer from 2 lei/kg last year to 3 lei/kg this year.
ANRE approves regulations concerning public water supply and sewerage service
The National Agency for Energy Regulation on December 16 endorsed the regulations concerning the public water supply and sewerage service. Such a document is approved by the Agency for the first time. Andrei Sula, head of the Agency’s Regulation Department, said the goal is to contribute to solving problems that appear in the relations between operators and consumers when connections or disconnections are made to the public water supply and sewerage system. The regulations define the method of calculating the charge for the provided service, including in case of illegal consumption, and the procedure for asking the operator to issue certificates concerning connection to the public system. Thus, the certificate is issued within 20 calendar days, while the works to connect the applicant’s internal water supply and sewerage equipment to the public system are performed within 30 or 45 calendar days, depending on the type of consumer (domestic or non-domestic), after the required charges are paid.
PARE 1+1 to be extended until 2018
The program for attracting remittances into the economy PARE 1+1 will be extended until 2018, in accordance with a decision approved by the interim Cabinet. PARE 1+1 was launched in 2010 as a pilot project. During five years, the participants – migrant workers or relatives of the first degree - were offered consultancy. These attended training courses, which involved 1,248 persons. In the period, there were signed 581 non-reimbursable financing contracts with entrepreneurs that planned to make investments in different areas of the national economy. The project’s surveillance committee accepted applications for grants to the value of 91 million lei.
Creation of one-stop shop at local level would solve problems in business sector
The institution of a one-stop shop at the local level, which would issue a number of documents needed by businessmen in one place, would help to solve many of the problems faced by entrepreneurs, including to save time. The issue was discussed in the public hearings staged by the National Business Agenda and the Chamber of Trade and Industry on December 16. There are a number of one-stop shops providing public services to economic entities in Moldova, but most of these work at the central level. Head of the Association of Milk Producers and Processors Carolina Linte said the one-stop shop can become an efficient solution only if the legislation is implemented. “The local public authorities, through the one-stop shop, should facilitate the businesses’ access to public services and improve the quality of the provided services. The one-stop shops should first of all provide services related to functioning and sanitary authorizations. But this should take place only after the National Food Safety Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture harmonize the legislation, while the business sector meets these requirements,” she stated.
● THURSDAY, December 17
Agreement allowing Moldovans to work legally in Israel to be extended
The interim Cabinet decided to initiate negotiations to extend the period of validity of the agreement between the Government of Israel and the Government of Moldova concerning the temporary employment of Moldovans in particular areas of activity in Israel for an additional period of three years, until January 5, 2019. Thus, the employment process will be legal and fair for Moldovans who go to work in Israel on a temporary basis and will prevent the collection of illegal taxes. The agreement ensures continuous cooperation between the sides in the recruitment, selection, placement, arrival, employment and return of Moldovans after working temporarily in Israel.
Commission to decide fate of Moldova’s pavilion used at World Expo 2015
The interim Cabinet set up a commission for managing the stuff that remained after Moldova’s participation in the World Expo 2015 that was held in Milan between May 1 and October 31.The commission is to decide how the dismantled parts of the pavilion will be used and to coordinate the dismantling and transportation works.
Results achieved during one year of implementation of DCFTA
Fifty-four or 29% of the 203 measures planned to be taken in 2014-2015 within the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) were implemented and 46 or 26% of the 176 European directives were transposed to the national legislation. The figures were presented by Inga Ionesii, division head at the Ministry of the Economy, in a conference that centered on the results achieved during the first year of implementation of the accord. The event was staged by the European Business Association. According to Inga Ionesii, the benefits will be felt in one-two years. Moldova’s exports to the EU already increased, to 62% of all the exports. However, the economic entities reorient themselves to the EU market not so swiftly and do not fully use the quotas on the export of particular products granted by the EU to Moldova.
