● TUESDAY, June 16
Moldova maintains economic growth trend
The Gross Domestic Product in Moldova in the first quarter of 2015 was 24.423 billion lei in current market prices, an increase of 4.8% on the first quarter of 2014. By seasonal adjustment, the GDP rose by 0.7% on the fourth quarter of 2014 and by 4.7% on the first quarter of 2014. The gross value added in the economy in January – March this year increased by 5.2% compared with the corresponding period last year. Practically all the sectors of the economy contributed to the growth of the GDP, mainly the insurance sectors (+2.1%), the extractive industry and processing industry (+1.1%), transport, hotels and restaurants (+0.7%). The gross value added in agriculture, forestry, fish breeding and constructions grew by 4.4% and 6.2% respectively. The public administration and defense influenced negatively (-0.2%) the physical volume of the GDP, determining a 1.3% decrease in the gross value added.
ICT Ministry announces switchover to digital terrestrial television
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology said the switchover to digital terrestrial television will take place starting with June 17. To allow the population to adjust and to offer the TV channels the possibility of migrating to digital transmission, the process of swinging over to digital terrestrial television will take place gradually, during three years. In the period, the analogue and digital networks will work in parallel. In a communique, the Ministry says that from June 17, the TV channel broadcasting in analogue format will not benefit from protection in case of perturbations caused by the TV channel transmitting in digital format. If the analogue TV channels cause perturbations to the digital TV channels, the first will be halted. To receive the digital television signal, one needs a TV set in the DVB-T2 format (with incorporated receiver) or an STB receiver. During the first three years, those who have old-type TV sets will be able to further receive the analogue television signal.
Alex Kremer: World Bank will offer budget support after Moldovan authorities take decisive action
The World Bank Country Manager in Moldova Alex Kremer said the World Bank has reserved $45 million for support to the 2015 budget, but it cannot make such a large payment into the Government budget until decisive action to resolve Moldova’s banking sector problems are seen. In a statement expressing his opinion, Alex Kremer says it would be illogical and irresponsible for the World Bank to transfer its shareholders’ money into the budget through the front door while there is a risk of even larger sums of public money being lost out of the back door through fraud and corruption in the banking sector. The World Bank is only allowed to give budget support to any country when the national budget is sound and reflects policy decisions. Government will have to issue Government bonds to protect depositors from the banking fraud, and Moldova’s 2015 budget does not yet include the cost of interest on these bonds. The national budget is not therefore ready to receive budget support from the World Bank.
Bankers’ League asks central bank to ensure stability in banking sector
The Bankers’ League of Moldova, which is a public association, called on the National Bank of Moldova to use all the legal instruments available and ensure stability and safety in the banking sector by taking appropriate actions. The League analyzed the latest developments in the banking sector and urged banks’ shareholders to show maturity and managerial culture for building a credible and favorable environment for developing the country’s banking sector. “The institution of special administration at Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank by the National Bank in November – December 2014 and the provision of emergency loans for maintaining liquidity at these bans caused major problems to the state budget, affected the image and reputation of the banking sector, jeopardized the relations with the international financial organizations and the external development partners,” says the statement.
4G mobile Internet becomes more popular
The number of users of mobile Internet through 4G networks in the first quarter of 2015 rose by 34.7% compared with the corresponding period last year, to about 35,400. The number of users of broadband mobile Internet (through modems/cards/USBs) increased by 4.8% to over 1.2 million. The penetration rate of this service per 100 people grew by 1.6% to 35% at the end of March. According to the data furnished by the three providers of public mobile communications networks and services -Orange Moldova, Moldcell and Moldtelecom – the number of users of mobile Internet (through mobile phones/smartphones, modems/cards/USBs) in the period rose to 1.7 million, while the penetrate rate of this type of Internet access service reached 48.5%.
Farmers could be exempted from income tax
The agricultural producers could be exempted from income tax on condition that this tax is reinvested in agriculture. A bill to this effect was agreed in a meeting of the special commission for drafting legislative amendments to support the farmers, which are to be passed by the legislative body. Alexandru Slusari, head of the Union of Agricultural Producers Associations “UniAgroProtect”, has told IPN that this is the first problem of those highlighted earlier by the farmers that is being dealt with. “No progress has been made in agreeing a solution for increasing the agricultural subsidies. The problem of the import of oil products hasn’t been yet discussed. Some promises were made as regards lending to farmers. Our demand to reduce the VAT for meat producers was also discussed a lot. There are yet many discrepancies over this issue. Those from the Ministry of Finance asked for a pause of several days for taking a decision,” he stated.
● WEDNESDAY, June 17
Agreement to finance ENPARD proposed for ratification
The agreement to finance the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD), signed by the Government of Moldova and the European Commission on March 26, 2015, will be submitted to Parliament for ratification. A bill to this effect was approved by the executive. The goal of the agreement is to provide assistance in enhancing the competitiveness of the agrifood sector and improving the living standards in rural areas and in strengthening economic and democratic governance. The European Commission’s assistance totals €64 million, €53 million of which is provided in budget support, while €11 million – in technical assistance for implementation.
Plan for implementing SME strategy to be put into practice at a cost of over 1bn lei
The strategy for developing the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises for 2012-2020 was supplemented with the plan of action for implementing it for 2015-2017, which was approved by the Government. The key objectives are to reduce the administrative barriers and regulatory costs for SMEs, to optimize the regulations in the field, to develop innovative financing schemes, to attract long-term credit lines from international financial institutions and facilitate the SMEs’ access to the public procurement process. The total cost of the measures contained in the plan is over 1 billion lei. This money will be allocated from the state budget and from sources covered with the assistance of the development partners.
Authorized exporters will be able to confirm origin of goods on own responsibility
The procedure for confirming the origin of Moldovan goods that are exported to the European Union without paying customs duties will be simplified. In this regard, the Government approved regulations concerning the issuing and withdrawal of the exporter’s certificate, said the head of the Customs Service Tudor Balitski. Thus, the economic entities that will obtain the status of authorized exporter will be able to confirm the origin of goods on their own responsibility. This means that the authorized exporters will no longer ask for a certificate showing the origin of goods from the customs authority, but will confirm the origin by themselves by filling out the declaration on the invoice. This will contribute to increasing the exports of Moldovan goods to the EU and will considerably reduce the costs and time needed for having the origin of goods confirmed.
● THURSDAY, June 18
Two former functionaries about possible default in Moldova
The situation is not so serious and there are possibilities of avoiding a default in Moldova, two former officials stated in the talk show “Politics” on TV 7 channel. Ex-Premier Dumitru Braghis said the situation is difficult, but not so serious. “The situation is difficult, but this does not mean that a default is inevitable. There is such a danger, but everything depends on the Government and Parliament. They can do everything possible for the country not to experience a critical situation. The Cabinet should include a team that will have the ambition to take the country out of the crisis. Political will is needed for solving several key problems faced by Moldova, including corruption, justice, political populism and division of society. The economy should be restructured. During the 25 years, we have made effort to rehabilitate an economy inherited from the former Soviet system. I think we should unite society around a national idea,” he stated.
Sales of fixed Internet access services up over 13%
The sales of fixed broadband Internet access services in the first quarter of 2015 rose by 13.1% compared with the corresponding period last year to 256 million lei. The number of subscribers increased by 7,300 to over 516,000. The data are contained in a report by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology. According to the Agency, of the 61 fixed Internet access service providers, Starnet Solutii and Moldtelecom reported the largest increases in sales. The sales of the first company grew by 28.6% to 62.5 million lei, while of the second – by 9.8% to 159.5 million lei.
Transnistria’s external trade down one third in May
The external trade of the Transnistrian region this May decreased by 34% on last May. Exports fell by 15%, while imports by 40%. The region’s main commercial partners are Russia, which accounts for 45% of the external trade, the right bank of the Nistru (20%) and Ukraine (8%). The Transnistrian companies also have commercial relations with EU member states. The trade with Romania represented 5%, with Germany and Italy – by 4%, while with Poland — 1%. Over 60% of the region’s imports come from Russia. Imports from Ukraine fell two times. Exports also decrease.
Government’s resignation influences currency market, central bank
The Government’s resignation, the discussions on the situation in the banking sector and the postponement of the visit by the IMF mission are factors that influence the currency market, the first vice governor of the National Bank Marin Molosag said in a news conference. According to him, all these discussions do not create positive conditions for the development of the market. Marin Molosag stated that a number of major components affect the currency market, including the remittances, trade, direct investments and the capital flow as well as the loans and other resources that come from the development partners. “If we take them one by one, we can see a decline in this regard though the situation on the currency market stabilized over the last few months,” he said.
● FRIDAY, June 19
Road for trucks to be built outside Rezina town
A road bypassing Rezina town and Ciorna village, to which the trucks will be directed, will be built until 2017. A sponsorship contract to this effect was signed by the administration of the Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure and that of the cement factory “Lafarge Ciment”. Under the agreement, an older road going to the factory, near Papauti village, will be rehabilitated over the next two years. This road joins the Rezina-Soldanesti road, near Tareuca village.
Delegation of “Rosspotrebnadzor” to come to Moldova
A delegation of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillanc of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing “Rosspotrebnadzor” will pay a visit to Moldova on June 22-24. The Russian experts will inspect a number of fruit and vegetable canning factories. Outgoing Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Ion Sula has told that he will have a meeting with the Russian experts on June 22. It will also involve the administration of the National Food Safety Agency. Afterward, the experts will visit a number of canneries, including in Gagauzia.
Roadmap for promoting green economy to be worked out
A working group for promoting sustainable development and green economy will be created based on an agreement between the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Economy. The document envisions the working out and implementation of a new interministerial roadmap. The ordinary meetings of the working group will take place once in three months. Among the group’s main duties are to coordinate and monitor all the activities aimed at promoting the principles of sustainable development and green economy in the socioeconomic sectors, to facilitate the implementation of the subcomponents of the EaP Program GREEN and to formulate and put into practice the interministerial roadmap.
Chamber of Trade and Executive Committee of Gagauzia sign cooperation agreement
The chairman of the Chamber of Trade and Industry Valeriu Lazar and the Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah signed an agreement of cooperation with the common objective of developing the business environment and offering assistance to companies from the region in development and internationalization. Valeriu Lazar said that cooperation agreements similar to the one signed with the executive of Gagauzia will be also signed with other local public authorities of Moldova with the aim of developing the recent Chamber’s initiative, called the Local Business Agenda. Irina Vlah stated that one of the priorities of the Executive Committee is to improve the relations with the business community and to regain businesses’ confidence. She expressed her readiness to have a dialogue with the business sector and the interest to create favorable conditions for the activity of companies.
● SATURDAY, June 20
Farmers informed about financial support from which they can benefit
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry is launching a campaign to inform agricultural producers about the forms of financial support from which they can benefit. By order of Minister Ion Sula, there was set a timetable of seminars that will be held in the country’s districts under the theme “Forms of financial support provided to agricultural producers from the Subsidization Fund for 2015”. According to the timetable, the seminars start on June 23. The first one will be staged in Chisinau, for the agricultural producers from the municipality of Chisinau and from the districts of Ialoveni, Criuleni, Dubasari and Straseni. The same day, seminars will be held in Causeni and Calarasi. The seminars will be given by the minister and deputy ministers of agriculture and by the administration of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture.
