● MONDAY, June 3
Reduced transparency hampers people’s participation in budgetary process, expert
Budget transparency contributes to increasing budget revenues. Owing to the people’s confidence that the public funds are spent transparently and efficiently, these will be motivated to pay taxes, which helps diminish the underground economy, Diana Enache, economist of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, was quoted by IPN as saying in the program “15 minutes of economic realism”. She noted the level of transparency of the budgetary process is at a low level, of 37.7% of 100% on average.
Subsidies offered to employers for creating new jobs
Employers will be able to claim at least 40,000 lei in government subventions for every new job created in 2019. Applications for reserving such subventions should be submitted until July 31. According to the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, in order to secure the subvention payments, a number of conditions must be cumulatively met: at least 100 additional persons must be employed; the average salary paid by the employer is not smaller than 75% of the national average salary; the new jobs are kept for at least three years; and the employer doesn’t have any tax arrears.
● TUESDAY, June 4
Farmers markets to be held weekly in all districts of Chisinau
Seasonal farmers markets will be set up in all the districts of the capital city each Saturday and Sunday. The first markets will be held this weekend, while the last ones on November 30. The citizens of Chisinau could buy fresh agricultural products at producer prices there, IPN reports, quoting municipal officials.
Chisinau hosts sixth Economic Forum of Moldovan-Italian Enterprises
The Italian Republic is a strategic partner of the Republic of Moldova in terms of trade and investments. In the course of 2018, Moldova’s exports to Italy rose by 31.2% compared with 2017. By the value of trade recorded in 2018, Italy ranks fourth among the partners with which Moldova has commercial relations, Minister of Economy and Infrastructure Kiril Gaburici stated in the sixth Economic Forum of Italian Enterprises and Mixed Moldovan-Italian Enterprises in Moldova that is held in Chisinau on June 4.
● WEDNESDAY, June 5
Entrepreneurs encounter difficulties in identifying qualified labor force, forum
The identification of skilled labor force is one of the main problems faced by entrepreneurs in Moldova. The shortage of staff is due to emigration. The World Bank supports in Moldova projects that offer training and personnel qualification, WB Country Manager Annei Akhalkatsi stated in the sixth Economic Forum of Italian Enterprises and Mixed Moldovan-Italian Enterprises in Moldova that was held in Chisinau on June 4.
Number of subscribers to fixed broadband Internet services goes up
The subscribers to fixed wireless broadband Internet access services in the first quarter of this year increased in number by 8,700 or 1.4% to 631,800. According to the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology, the rise in the number of subscribers is due the higher number of those who chose to connect to the Internet through fiber to the premise (FTTx). Those who connected to the Internet this way grew in number by over 12,000 to more than 406,400. The number of those who chose the coaxial cable rose by 1,700 to 46,000.
Eggs to be marked in a different way
Eggs put on sale should have the identification number of the production unit and the period of minimum durability instead of the egg laying date on them. The new provisions took effect on June 1, but specialists of the National Food Safety Agency warn eggs marked according to the old formula could be yet found in stores during the next about three weeks.
Climate change requires crop choice changes, state secretary
Climate change requires us to rethink what crops we choose to cultivate. Moldova practically doesn’t have an “agricultural spring” anymore, as the typical three weeks destined for sowing have now been reduced to no more than a week and a half. This means that there is almost no transition from the “agricultural winter” to the “agricultural summer”, which has consequences on the harvest and influences trade. This was stated by Iurie Ușurelu, state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, during the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Agricultural Trade Expert Network in Europe and Central Asia, taking place in Chisinau on June 5 and 6.
● THURSDAY, June 6
Landline telephone services lose in popularity
The main indicators of the landline phone market continue to decline. The number of subscribers during three months of this year decreased by 8,300 or 0.7% to 1.1 million, according to the data for the first quarter of this year provided to the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology by 24 providers of landline telephone services. The Agency said total voice traffic diminished by 12.6% compared with the first quarter of 2018, to 331.9 million minutes. Sales decreased by 25.2 million lei or 17.6% to 117.9 million lei.
Cosăuți-Iampoli border crossing point resumes work
The ferry border crossing point Cosăuți-Iampoli was reopened on June 6 after being nonfunctional for 15 days. It was closed after the level of water in the Nistru River rose considerably, with reference to the Border Police. Earlier this week, after a pause of almost two weeks, the ferry border crossing point Soroca-Tsekinovka also resumed work after being closed for the same reason.
● FRIDAY, June 7
Subscribers to pay TV increase in number
The number of subscribers connected to pay TV services and the total volume of sales on this market segment in the first quarter of this year rose by 1,500 or 0.5%, totaling 331,200 and, respectively, by 2.7 million lei or 7% to 41.4 million lei compared with the corresponding period last year, the national ICT regulator ANRCETI has said. Following such developments, the monthly average revenue per user of the operators working on this segment grew by 5.6% to 41.8 lei.
Truck drivers to be able to schedule border crossings
Commercial truck drivers will be able to schedule their arrival in the customs area at the border using a computer/mobile application. The software will be developed by the Customs Service to facilitate border-crossing freight traffic. At first the system will be piloted at the Sculeni Checkpoint, and if successful it will be extended to other busy checkpoints. The application will be developed and implemented with the financial support of the USAID Structural Reforms Program. A Memorandum of Understanding in this respect was signed today. The Program will also organize a study visit to Estonia, which operates a similar system.
Rise in salaries on a long term depends on increase in labor productivity, expert
The gross nominal average salary in the first quarter of his year rose by 17.2% compared with the corresponding period last year to 6,923 lei, the National Bureau of Statistics has said. Contacted by IPN, Iurie Morcotylo, economic expert of the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, said the salaries in the short term will continue to rise, but the rise in the medium and long term depends on the increase in labor productivity. According to the expert, the productivity in Moldova over the past few years grew slower than the salaries and this is a challenge for employees in the medium and long term. If solutions for increasing productivity are not identified, the temporary or impressive rise in pays will be a short-term one and will return to the average tendency of 3-4% a year in real terms or of 5-6% in nominal terms.
● SATURDAY, June 8
Deadline for clearing goods transported by train via Transnistrian region extended
The goods transported by train through the Transnistrian region could be further cleared according to the one-stop control principle at the stations “Bender-2” in Varnița village and “Rybnitsa” in Rybnitsa town, until December 31, 2019. According to the Reintegration Policies Bureau, Prime Minister Pavel Filip signed an additional protocol to the protocol decision on the principles of restoring the complete circulation of freight trains via the Transnistrian region of March 30, 2012. The document was countersigned by the Transnistrian leader Krasnoselski. The previous document expired on June 30.
