Moldova’s economy resisted in harsh regional conditions and even grew in the first months of this year also due to the effects of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU, which was ratified a year ago and came provisionally into force on September 1, 2014, acting Minister of Economy Stephane Bride said in a news conference on July 9, quoted by IPN.

He noted that despite the external conditions – economic crises in a number of CIS states, the conflict in Ukraine and the bans imposed by Russia – Moldova saw an economic growth of almost 5% in the first quarter of this year. Industry grew by over 4%, while the long-term investments by 2.4%.

In 2014, the EU accounted for 53% of Moldova’s exports, while in the first five months of this year, the figure rose to almost 65%. In spite of the general decline in Moldova’s exports since the start of this year, the exports to the EU increased, even if by only 0.5%.

Imports from the EU fell by over 20% in the period. The concerns that Moldova will be invaded by European goods didn’t come true thus. The DCFTA offers the Moldovan producers access to a market with 500 million consumers and enables them to develop and implement standards that will help increase confidence in the Moldovan products.

“The Association Agreement has an evident impact on the economic growth. It’s clear that we have a growth, compared with the data for last year,” said the official.

“Time has come to look at the economy more optimistically and to show that Moldova has potential and can be transformed into a really European country.”