Moldova’s exports in the first 11 months of last year decreased by 16.4% compared with the corresponding period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics has said. According to experts, exports declined due to the diminished share of the economy. The forecasts for this year are also not very optimistic.
Contacted by IPN, director of the Market Economy Institute Roman Chirca said that another cause of the lower exports is the fact that Moldova is a net importing country. Moldova does not have many goods intended for export because it does not produce them.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, over 60% of the exports in the first 11 months of 2015 were directed to the EU countries. The food products, live animals and manufactured articles were among the most exported goods. Roman Chirca said that compared with last year, Moldova’s exports to the European Union remained at the same level, with small exceptions.
Exports to the CIS countries declined by about 35% in the period. The expert noted this decline was influenced by the economic situation in the area. “Almost all the CIS countries, probably except for Armenia and Uzbekistan, experienced difficult economic conditions, including the significant depreciation of the national currency. Practically the whole CIS area is in recession. Thus, these countries’ import capacity also diminished dramatically and this seriously affected our export potential,” stated Roman Chirca.
According to him, this downward trend will continue as a result of the diminution of investments in the national economy. “If we do not improve the investment climate and do not manage to generate an investment trend and appetite in persons who want to start businesses and to develop production capacities, we will witness a continuous decline,” said the expert.
Imports last January – November decreased by about 25% compared with the corresponding period a year before. The expert said this is due to the significant reduction in remittances and to the economic decline.
Roman Chirca considers that the crisis will intensify in 2016. Moldova’s foreign trade will be influenced by the situation in Russia, which is expected to worsen, while the potential of exporting to the EU countries will not grow significantly. The foreign trade this year will also be influenced by such negative factors as the appreciation of the euro against the dollar, the investment crisis and the crisis of public financing.
