● MONDAY, February 13
German experts recommend farmers to plant crops that are in demand in EU
The Government of the Republic of Moldova asked for the German Economic Team (GET) Moldova’s opinion about the crops that can be cultivated in Moldova and that have great potential for being exported to the EU in general and Germany in particular. The economists of GET Moldova suggested that in the short term Moldova can replace the dominant production of wheat and sunflower with that of soybean, sorghum, walnuts, hazelnut or honey.
Parameters for identifying and registering animals to be improved
The period for identifying and registering animals in the State Register of Animals in the case of kids, lambs and piglets will be increased to 60 days from birth, up from 45 days at present. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry suggested changes and supplements concerning the procedures and documents related to the Livestock Identification and Traceability System approved in 2007.
National foot watchdog implements avian flu biosecurity plan
The National Food Safety Agency banned the import of poultry from particular regions of Ukraine, Germany, Poland and Russia. There are now 21 countries with bird flu hotbeds. Those from which the import was banned pose the biggest infection threat to Moldova.
Recommendations for preventing bird flu
The meeting of zoo hygiene and nutrition conditions can minimize the risk of bird flu infection. Twenty-one countries reported having the N5H8 virus, vice director of the National Food Safety Agency Vsevolod Stamati told a news conference. Avian influenza can get to Moldova by imported infected poultry and through migratory birds. The virus does not affect humans, but the people can carry this.
Ban on importing poultry applies to individuals as well
Moldova imposed restrictions on the import of poultry from a number of regions of Ukraine, Poland, the Russian Federation and Germany, where avian influenza was reported. The bans announced by the National Food Safety Agency apply both to business entities and private individuals who cross the state border. The period of the bans will vary depending on the area and the actions taken by the authorities to eliminate the virus, the Agency’s vice director Vsevolod Stamati specified..
● TUESDAY, Februarie 14
Russian experts inspect Transnistrian food companies
Representatives of Russia’s food safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor informed the head of the Transnistrian executive Alexandr Martynov that a team of Russian experts will inspect companies operating in the food industry of Transnistria with the aim of allowing these to export their products to the Russian Federation.
Rospotrebnadzor experts arrived in Moldova
A team of experts of Russia’s food safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor came to Moldova to inform themselves about the steps taken by the competent bodies to ensure the quality and safety of wine products, IPN reports, quoting the website of the Russian authority.
EBRD contributes to better life in Moldova, officials
Investments in the economy, reformation of the banking sector and justice sector were discussed by the First Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Philip Bennett and Prime Minister Pavel Filip and in a separate meeting with Minister of Economy Octavian Calmac. Pavel Filip said the Government wants to attract more investments to the national economy so as to implement social projects. He informed the EBRD official about the steps taken to improve the business climate and the situation in the financial-banking sector and to fight corruption.
Tax inspectors on surprise visits to several shopping centers in Chisinau
Employees of the State Tax Service carried out inspections at several shopping centers in Chisinau to see how the legislation is respected there. The tax inspectors made control purchases from a number of clothing, footwear and cosmetics shops.
● WEDNESDAY, February 15
Tudor Copaci to be proposed to Parliament for post of NAER director
The Parliament’s commission on economy, budget and finance will propose candidate for the post of director of the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER) Tudor Copaci to the legislature for confirmation or rejection. The decision was taken in the February 15 meeting of the commission. The commission’s chairman Stefan Creanga said Tudor Copaci was chosen out of ten interviewed candidates, based on the testing results. He got the highest score, being followed by candidate Victor Parlicov.
Annual rate of inflation 0.6% up in January
The National Bank of Moldova said the annual rate of inflation in January was 3%, up 0.6 percentage points on the previous month. It was under the lower limit of the variation interval of ±1.5 percentage points.
Moldova, Hungary to improve cooperation in food safety area
The Republic of Moldova and Hungary will improve cooperation in the food safety, animal health and phytosanitary sectors. A memorandum of understanding to this effect between the ministries of agriculture of the two states was approved by the Government of Moldova. The memorandum is valid for a five-year period and was signed in Budapest on December 5, 2016. Among others, the document envisions the adjustment of the national standards to the EU sanitary-veterinary and phytosanitary standards. This will enable to extend the categories of agricultural products exported to the EU.
Ministry of Finance concedes shareholding in “National Lottery of Moldova”
The shares owned by the Ministry of Finance in the state-run company “National Lottery of Moldova” SA will be transferred to the Public Property Agency of the Ministry of Economy. A decision to this effect was taken by the Cabinet. The company was founded by a Government decision of 2011. Its share capital totals 250,000 lei, divided into 2,500 ordinary shares to the value of 100 lei each.
● THURSDAY, February 2
Contest at which NAER director was chosen should be annulled, experts
Energy experts consider there are preconditions for annulling the results of the contest to fill the vacancy of director of the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER), which was won by ex-deputy minister of justice Tudor Copaci. The issue was developed in the program “Politics” on TV 7 channel. Energy expert Sergiu Tofilat considers the contest was fixed to be won by Tudor Copaci and provided a number of arguments in support of his assertion. “Copaci got the highest score. He is a specialist in energy. He received points for knowledge of English and for communication skills. He obtained a high score for knowledge of macroeconomics. But the NAER director needs knowledge in microeconomics, including of how prices at enterprises are formed. Moreover, the interviews weren’t made public and were held behind closed doors,” stated the expert.
Currency could be exchanged on presentation of identity card
The currency will be exchanged only if the client presents an identification paper. If the exchanged sum does not exceed the equivalent of 5,000 lei, the document will have to be only presented. If the sum is higher, the employee of the currency exchange facility will have to register the data from the identity card. According to Deputy Minister of Justice Nicolae Esanu, the provision forms part of a bill whose goal is to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.
Construction of Ungheni – Chisinau gas pipeline to be declared public utility of national interest
The Ministry of Economy suggests a bill to declare the works to construct the Ungheni – Chisinau gas pipeline public utility of national interest for public debates. The legislative initiative provides that the Ministry of Economy in the name of the state will initiate the procedure for purchasing the plots that will be crossed by the pipeline. The first estimates within the feasibility study show the given plots could be bought for about €600,000. The designing and building works will be financed with the loans provided by the EBRD and EIB to the Government, with an EU grant and with the Government’s contribution.
Premier meets with IMF mission
The mission of the International Monetary Fund during the next two weeks will assess the macroeconomic situation in the Republic of Moldova and will review the relevant policies, the new IMF mission chief Ben Kelmanson, who replaced Ivanna Vladkova-Hollar as of this January, stated in a meeting with Prime Minister Pavel Filip. The IMF team will be in Chisinau during February 14-28, 2017. According to the Government’s press service, in the meeting the Premier expressed his confidence that the close cooperation between the Government and the IMF will be maintained in the period during which the mission will be led by Ben Kelmanson.
● FRIDAY, February 17
Second tranche of Romanian loan to be disbursed at end-February
The second tranche of the Romanian loan of €150 million will be disbursed at the end of February. The Government of Romania on February 16 approved the decision that enables to withdraw the €50 million. The request to receive the second tranche was transmitted by the Ministry of Finance of Moldova this January.
Contest “Trademark of year 2016” launched
The State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) and the Camber of Trade and Industry of Moldova have launched the contests “Trademark of the year 2016” and “Quality Achievements Award”. These are open to enterprises and organizations of different forms of ownership, legal entities registered in Moldova and private individuals who produce goods or provide services on the country’s territory.
Longer period allowed for submitting tax returns
The private individuals living in Moldova can present the tax returns for last year until April 30 this year. Until now the deadline was March 31. The time limit was extended by making changes to the Tax Code. These took effect on January 1, 2017. All the taxpayers must submit tax returns if they earned taxable incomes from several sources, like two workplaces or other sources, and these exceeded 29,640 lei a year.
● SATURDAY, February 4
Hundreds of lei in taxes for terminating contracts with TV program distributors
Those who sign contracts with TV program distributors by examining the packages only risk having unpleasant surprises if they decide to terminate the contract before time. Most of the distributors levy contract termination taxes that can amount to 1,500 lei, depending on the operator and package. The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) said the contract termination taxes are a legal practice and these are applied in other states as well. The persons must attentively read the clauses before signing the contract. A market analysts by IPN’s reporter shows that the highest contract termination taxes in Chisinau municipality are applied by Starnet, which does not have separate TV packages as these also include Internet services. The contract is valid for minimum two years. If the client terminates the contract earlier, this must pay a tax of 1,500 lei.
Central bank names temporary administrator at BC “Moldindconbank”
The Executive Board of the National Bank of Moldova appointed Romanian citizen Sorin Andrei as temporary administrator with powers of the Board of BC “Moldindcondbank” S.A. The decision was taken after the term of temporary administrator Nicolae Dorin, who is the president of the Banks Association of Moldova, expired and could not be extended. According to the National Bank of Moldova, Sorin Andrei has rich experience in the financial-banking sector. He earlier worked as executive director of bank branch, regional-corporate director at the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) and vice president and president of the Board of Directors of BCR Chisinau S.A.
Amendments proposed to state budget law
The Ministry of Finance has modified the bill to amend and supplement the 2017 state budget law. Both the state budget revenues and expenditure could be increased by 385.9 million lei. The budget deficit remained unchanged. The draft law was published on particip.gov.md. According to the Ministry of Finance, the bill was amended in order to adjust the budget indicators, given the rise in allocations from the state budget to the local budgets and the allotment of a part of the road fund to these. A liquidity reserve will be formed so as to improve the management of the state debt. In this connection, it is proposed increasing the balance of the internal state debt and, correspondingly, the balance in accounts at the end of 2017.
IMF conditions for Moldova
To secure the program with the IMF, the government of Moldova had to fulfill an unusually large number of upfront conditions, including to implement measures to increase bank shareholder transparency and strengthen the supervisory powers of the National Bank. Furthermore, energy tariffs for households have to be raised to cost recovery level and lending to state companies has to be made transparent. The German Economic Team Moldova (GET Moldova), which consults the executive in modeling the processes needed for economic reforms, took stock of the prior actions assumed by the government. GET Moldova noted the government has agreed that all other banks will have to undergo the same process of identifying the real owners and auditing their loan books in order to uncover dodgy lending practices. Moreover, coverage of the Deposit Guarantee Fund will be increased to avoid that the government has to provide costly state guarantees or recapitalize banks as was the case during the recent bank fraud.