The moratorium imposed by the Government on state inspections at business entities was one of the most important events in Moldova in 2016. The voting by Parliament, for now in the first reading, of the law on the liberalization of capital and tax stimulation, called also ‘tax amnesty, is the surprise of the year. Such an opinion was stated by economic experts who took part in the public discussion “Economic year 2016 in the view of entrepreneurs and experts”, staged by IPN News Agency.
According to the chairman of the National Employers Confederation of Moldova Leonid Cerescu, 2016 was a difficult one. The imposition of a moratorium on state inspections enabled to somehow rethink the situation in which the business entities are. Among the important events of the year were the activation of the platforms of communication between state institutions and the business sector and the discussions on the modification of the Labor Code that led to new relations between employers and employees.
Economic expert Iurie Morcotyrlo, of the independent think tank “Expert-Grup”, mentioned three most important events that marked the economic year 2016, according to him. These are: the imposition of a moratorium on state inspections; missing of one more year for improving economic growth and approval of the law on capital liberalization and tax stimulation. “We have the same deficiencies on the labor market and the same economic growth constraints,” he stated.
Ex-minister of finance Veaceslav Negruta said the fact that the Government was issued with a mandate to negotiate an agreement with the IMF, and this was politically accepted, is another event that deserves attention. “This event was aimed at bringing back to the Republic of Moldova coherent policies in economy and finance, which would give credibility,” stated the expert. According to him, the adoption of the package of laws on the banking sector is another important event. This was a condition for signing the memorandum with the IMF, for solving the crisis in the banking sector. “Several records set in 2006, including the lack of an adopted budget, are the third event. The Republic of Moldova worked for over six months without an adopted budget and this showed that what the Government does is not as important as the internal rules that motivate or demotivate the business entities.”
According to economic and financial expert Roman Chirca, not really positive events were witnessed in 2016 even if it was a year of stabilization, when the economic decline was stopped. “Our economy depends 50% on remittances, while the share of imports in the balance of trade decreased. The direct investment diminished considerably,” he stated, adding that the Government acts unwisely as regards the ‘tax amnesty’ and the conception is rather raw.
The public discussion “Economic year 2016 in the view of entrepreneurs and experts” is the 68th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture by public debates” that are held with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
