The GDP in January – September 2020 declined by 8.2% compared with the corresponding period last year, being influenced by the impact of the pandemic crisis on the sectors of the national economy. Among the most affected were the hospitality industry, domestic trade, processing industry, transport, storage, building and service sector. The situation was presented by Minister of Economy and Infrastructure Anatol Usatyi in a news conference at the end of his tenure, IPN reports.
According to Anatol Usatîi, 466 entrepreneurs were trained as part of the program to support the digitization of SMEs designed in reaction to the situation generated by the crisis and at the suggestion of the business community. Within the first call of grant proposals, 180 businesses were financed in the amount of 11.36 million lei. These are to maintain over 1,000 jobs.
In order to facilitate access to finances, the Government allocated an extra 50 million lei for capitalizing the Loan Guarantee Fund and a new guarantee product was devised in connection with the crisis. To help the SME sector, the volume of funds allocated through state programs was raised by 84% against the budget planned for 2020. Over 15,000 business entities or potential entrepreneurs benefitted from at least one business support measure as part of the state programs in 2020.
The pandemic crisis also affected the Free Economic Zones and Industrial Parks, but the efforts to manage the situation helped maintain the economic indicators stable. The average number of resident employees at the end 2020 rose by 2% or 360 persons on 2019.
Despite the pandemic effects on the national public budget, the Government maintained the level of investments in infrastructure, allocating 1.605,7 billion lei to the Road Fund. In 2020, the national authorities started to build the Isaccea – Vulcănești – Chisinau 400 kV high-voltage power line and the necessary Back to Back station. To ensure the supply of natural gas, the construction of the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline was finished in 2020. There were completed two major projects to modernize the infrastructure of the centralized heating systems in the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti, with a cumulative budget of about €50 million.
