● MONDAY, February 4
Agricultural producers can submit applications for subsidies as from Feb. 4
The Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture started to accept applications to allocate subsidies for 2019 from the National Fund for Agriculture and Rural Development. As of February 4, applications can be also submitted for subsidies in advance, which are intended for beginner enterprises. Iurie Ușurelu, secretary general of state at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional and Environment, told a news conference that the 2019 National Fund for Agriculture and Rural Development consists of 900 million lei. A sum of 390 million lei will be directed as subsidies to producers whose applications for subsidies haven’t been covered in 2018.
● TUESDAY, February 5
Joint border crossing point Palanca can be crossed by all categories of transport
As from February 5, the new jointly operated border crossing point Palanca can be crossed by all the categories of vehicles on condition that they do not transport alcoholic beverages, tobacco products or goods that are subject to veterinary and phytosanitary control. The Customs Service reminds that the new border crossing point was inaugurated on December 28, 2018 and at that stage was open only to vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tones and with the capacity of at most 22 places and also to goods that are not subject to veterinary and phytosanitary control.
Group of farmers sustain damage after supplying goods to businessman
A group of farmers is now unable to start the spring agricultural works because a businessman operating in Chisinau to whom they supplied the crop gathered in 2018 didn’t honor his financial commitments. The farmers said they sustained damage of almost 2 million lei. Daniel Bobuţac, a farmer from Briceni, in a news conference at IPN, said last autumn a number of farmers agreed with the companies “Cereale LVN” SRL and “Platinum Agrotrans” SRL based in Chisinau to sell sunflower seeds to them. These are both managed by Ștefan Lucaş. They even undertook to cover a part of the costs for delivering the production to the place indicated by the buyer. The businessman promised the payments will be made in four-seven days, but this wasn’t done. After waiting for 14 days, the farmers travelled to the address of the two companies and learned that the two enterprises stopped having the indicated legal address two years ago. The director of the companies repeatedly ignored farmers’ phone calls. When he answered the phone, he asked them to wait for two-three more days.
Moldova IT Park welcomes 346 resident companies over a year
A number of 346 national and foreign companies working in the ICT sector in 2018 joined the first IT park in the Republic of Moldova. According to the preliminary results, the revenues from sales rose to almost 2 billion lei, IPN reports, quoting the Government’s press service. “For the Republic of Moldova, the IT sector is a sector with prospects. Being a small country, we should not produce only labor force. We should train specialists for the industry with high value added,” stated Prime Minister Pavel Filip. During the first year of activity, over 6,600 persons were employed at companies working on the territory of Moldova IT Park. The average salary of these grew to almost 26,000 lei. In the period, resident companies’ exports increased to 600 million lei in the fourth quarter, while the number of companies with foreign capital rose to 96.
New rules for managers of networks in Chisinau
The business entities and private individuals that own or manage networks could perform repair works on these only after they receive an execution permit from the General Public Transport and Communications Division. A decision to this effect was adopted by the Chisinau Municipal Council on February 5, IPN reports. Also, the business entities that own utilities or the contractor must delimit the area with a protection fence, mark it with reflective tape and set up an informative board with data about the beneficiary and works starting and ending period.
● WEDNESDAY, February 6
Largest bank of Hungary announces plans to purchase majority holding in Mobiasbancă
OTP Bank Group – the largest banking institution of Hungary and the third largest bank in Central and Eastern Europe – intends to come with investments to the Republic of Moldova. For the purpose, OTP Bank Group and Groupe Societe Generale signed an agreement on the acquisition of a majority holding in BC Mobiasbancă – Groupe Societe Generale SA. The transaction will be possible only after OTP Bank Group requests and receives the National Bank of Moldova’s prior written permission, as it is provided in the law on banking activity of the Republic of Moldova.
Societe Generale takes a further step through sale of Mobiasbancă, Deputy CEO
Through the sale of Mobiasbancă, Societe Generale takes a further step in its ”Transform to Grow” strategic plan by optimizing capital and refocusing its international Retail banking activities on geographies where it has a critical size and high potential synergetic activities, said Philippe Heim, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Societe Generale Group in charge of International Retail Banking Activities, Financial Services and Insurance. Societe Generale entered into an agreement to sell its majority stake in Mobiasbancă Societe Generale (Moldova) to OTP Bank Group. “We are pleased to announce the signing of the cooperation agreement with OTP, which will allow us to provide mutual services to our corporate clients in the region,” stated Philippe Heim.
NGOs condemn flagrant violation of decisional transparency
A number of civil society organizations firmly condemn the violation by the Government of the legislation on transparency in the decision-making process. In a statement, the NGOs make reference to a draft Government decision concerning the amendment of a decision on the approval of the technical concept of the automated information system State Register of Public Procurement known as MTender. The draft decision was published on the Ministry of Finance’s website on January 29, 2019, with February 13 being indicated as the deadline for collecting opinions. However, the next day, on January 30, the draft was included in the agenda of the Government’s meeting and was approved. The NGOs consider such flagrant violation of the legislation on decisional transparency is inadmissible. In a news conference at IPN, president of the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER) Olesea Stamate said the mentioned decision allows for the abrogation of two points from Decision No. 705 (of July 11, 2018) concerning the approval of the technical concept of the automated information system State Register of Public Procurement known as MTender. By such abrogation, the previous electronic procurement system SIA RSAP, which was to be used only as an archive under Decision No. 705, will be restored. The signatories of the statement say the arguments in favor of such a decision generate questions.
Low value acquisitions should be mandatorily performed through MTender, NGOs
The increase in the ceilings for public acquisitions by a draft law approved at the end of 2018 creates preconditions for considerably augmenting the volume of public funds used non-transparently and inefficiently, consider representatives of civil society. By a statement, a number of NGOs demand that the Ministry of Finance should work out and submit to the Government for approval a draft decision providing that the acquisitions whose value exceeds the ceiling of over 50,000 lei should be mandatorily performed by respecting minimum competition and transparency requirements through the MTender system. In a news conference at IPN, Valeriu Ciorba, expert of the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance, said the legislative amendments took effect in the middle of last December. By these, the ceilings for acquisitions that are not covered by the law on public procurement , which is acquisitions to the value of 80,000 to 200,000 lei for goods and services and of 100,000 lei to 250,000 lei for works, are raised. The low value acquisitions can be performed between contracting sides directly with economic operators in the absence of competition. These are not conducted through the new MTender system and there is no obligation for the contracting authorities to publish low value contracts in the system.
Moldova goes up in Index of Economic Freedom, but continues to have mostly unfree economy
With a score of 59.1 points out of 100 possible, the Republic of Moldova ranks 97th of 180 countries included in the Index of Economic Freedom produced by the Heritage Foundation of the U.S. and The Wall Street Journal. The index measures the impact of liberty and free markets. Moldova rose by 0.7 percentage points on last year, but remains in the category of countries with mostly unfree economies.
Moldovan wine promoted at reception in Japan
The national wine brand and Moldova as a tourist destination were presented at a reception in Japan that involved eight Japanese companies importing wine from Moldova. Sommeliers and amateurs, officials and businessmen tasted Moldovan wines made by 21 vineries. Moldova’s Ambassador to Japan Vasile Bumacov, in the opening of the event, said out of pleasure he organizes activities to promote the most competitive product of Moldova – the wine. The reception is a celebration of the work of the eight importing Japanese companies that accepted the embassy’s invitation and promote the Moldovan wines in Japan.
Transfers exceeded US$ 1.266bn in 2018
In 2018, the total volume of money transferred to individuals, residents of the Republic of Moldova, amounted to US$ 1.266 billion. Almost 84% of the money came via money transfer systems in different currencies, mainly without opening bank accounts. According to the National Bank of Moldova, the transfers made in US dollars in 2018 increased by 5.6% compared with 2017, including by 2.5% as a result of the appreciation of the euro against the US dollar. The real increase in transfers was 3.1%. In 2018, the currency structure of money transfers (recalculated in US dollars) was as follows: USD - 549.17 million, EUR - 626.60 million, RUB - 78.23 million and other currencies - 12.84 million US dollars.
● THURSDAY, February 7
NAER has four directors
Parliament on February 7 named four directors of the Administration Board of the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER) for a six-year term. These are: Ștefan Creangă, Veaceslav Untila, Octavian Calmîc and Eugen Carpov. The new directors start work on March 1. In the debate on the appointment, Lib-Dem Tudor Deliu said the candidates seem to have been chosen based on a preliminary agreement and the results of the contest staged by the parliamentary commission were rigged. Veaceslav Untila, even if he won the contest, couldn’t have known that he will become NAER director before the vote held in Parliament. But this argued he vacated the post of president of the Court of Auditors because he was named to another post. The legislature also appointed Anatolie Zagorodnyi as director general of the National Agency for Dispute Settlement. The candidate was selected at a contest by the commission on economy, budget and finance. Moldova’s Parliament on February 7 held the first plenary sitting of the spring session. This is the last session of the Parliament of the 20th legislature whose mandate expired on November 30, 2018. Under the Constitution, the mandate is extended until the new legislative body is formed legally. The legislative elections were set for February 24, 2019.
● FRIDAY, February 8
4.3m foreigners visited Moldova last year
The Republic of Moldova in 2018 was visited by 4.3 million foreigners, a rise of 11.7% compared with 2017. The data were presented by the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure in connection with the launch of the 24th international exhibition “Tourism. Leisure. Hotels” on February 7. According to the data for the first nine months of 2018, over 337,000 tourists stays at tourist accommodation facilities, with over 117,000 of these being foreigners, up 10% compared with the corresponding period of 2017. In January –September 2018, the tourism agencies and tour operators provided tourism services to 277,000 tourists and excursionists, an increase of 19.6% on 2017.
Transition to green economy creates opportunities for business community, official
The Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure is in the process of drafting a new national pilot program “Green SMEs3” that will encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to carry out less polluting and more eco-friendly activities. In the common meeting of the inter-ministerial working group for promoting sustainable development and green economy, secretary of state Iulia Costin said the transition of the Republic of Moldova to a green economy creates many economic opportunities for the business community. The Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure in a press release said the principle of green economy forms the basis for a series of development directions of Moldova and society for the next decade. The program to promote green economy in the Republic of Moldova for 2018-2020 envisions the inclusion of ecological education and education for sustainable development in primary, secondary, technical vocational and higher education institutions.
Places for selling martsishors to be authorized in Chisinau
In the period of the holidays of “Dragobete”, “Martsishor” and “8th of March”, special places will be authorized for selling souvenirs, martsishors (amulets worn at chest in spring) and garden flowers in the capital city. Acting mayor of Chisinau Ruslan Codreanu signed an order to this effect. The heads of the districts of Chisinau are to decide the selling places and to authorize trading activities that could be performed between February 11and March 10, 2019.
Conditions of public-private partnership for supervising traffic safety
The conditions of the public-private partnerships for implementing the automated system for supervising public and road traffic safety became known. A draft Government decision to this effect was published by the Ministry of the Interior for public consultations. The draft decision envisions the transfer of the rights and obligations related to the implementation and technical operation of the automated system for supervising public and road traffic safety. The private partner will make investments from own sources within at most six years of the signing of the contract. The investments were estimated at 21 million lei.
● SATURDAY, February 9
Employers can apply for subsidies if they employ persons from risk groups
The employers who provide jobs to persons with disabilities, persons freed from detection or victims of trafficking in human beings can ask for subsidies from the state for partially compensating the salary paid to persons from risk groups. The relevant provisions of the law on the promotion of employment and unemployment benefit take effect on February 10, six month after they were published in the Official Gazette (August 10, 2018). The salary subsidy is provided for a period of six months and represents 30% of the average official salary for the previous year. Such subsidies will be given to employers that hire persons aged 50 and over, victims of domestic violence and persons who struggle against the use of drugs following social-psychological rehabilitation.
