ECO-BUS WEEKLY DIGEST March 1-7. Most important Economy & Business news by IPN
● MONDAY, March 1
99 businesses to be supported financially in digitization process
Ninety-nine companies will receive 8.4 million lei in financing for improving or transforming the business process by using digital technologies. The money will be allocated through the SMEs Digitization Support Instrument that is financed with state budget funds and is supported by the EU and GIZ Moldova. The Organization for the Development of the Sector of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (ODIMM), which is implementing the program, in a press release said that 210 companies took part in the second contest of projects within the support instrument. The companies went through a complex selection process. Forty-six companies will benefit from grants of up to 200,000 lei each for digitizing business processes, while 53 companies will receive business vouchers of up to 20,000 lei each for website development services and services to promote the business through social networking sites.
New multifunctional center for businesses inaugurated in Chisinau
A new multifunctional center for the business community was officially opened in Chisinau on March 1. The new center is a subdivision of the Public Services Agency and will provide services to private individuals and legal entities and also to public authorities. Public Services Agency director Vladislav Zara said the new center will offer such services as licensing, real estate registration and cadastral works. The beneficiaries will be able to ask for the state registration of legal entities and individual enterprises and for other services. The center will apply such principles as the“one-stop shop” and “open space”. Vitalie Celac, department head at the Agency, said the elderly people, persons with disabilities and parents with small children will be served on the first floor of the multifunctional center.
Highest average salary in 2020 paid in ICT sector
The official gross average monthly salary in 2020 was 8,107.5 lei, an increase of 10.2% on 2019. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the highest average monthly salary in the fourth quarter of 2020 was paid in the ICT sector – over 20,300 lei, in financial and insurance activities – 16,000 lei, in the production and supply of electrical energy and heat, gas, hot water and air conditioning – over 14,300 lei.
Smaller walnut harvest and kernel of a poorer quality
The walnut harvest last year was by about 30% lower compared with a year before given the drought. The quality of kernel was also affected by the lack of precipitation. Victor Guțu, director of AMG Kernel, which manages considerable areas of walnut orchards, said the price of exported walnuts decreased as a result. The competition factor also had an impact as the harvest in such states as Chile and California (U.S.) was very good. Victor Guțu said the losses are considerable. The producers have long-term contracts, but the contract clauses concerting the quantity, quality and delivery terms cannot be respected and they risk not being in the list of credible exporters next year. Last year, walnuts in shells were sold for US$2.5, but this year they are sold for US$1.5. Carmina Vicol, manager of the company “Monicol”, which grows and also purchases walnuts from the population, said that owing to the drought, the kernel is dry and light in color and differs a lot from the quality standards on the European market. The prices in documents are set when the walnuts are on the tree and are dictated by the large players from the international market, which this year set much lower prices than those of the exporters from Moldova. The walnut cannot be left for next year as the quality will be lower. The domestic market cannot absorb the existing quantities.
● TUESDAY, March 2
How to diminish losses and to reduce heating costs by over 30%
More than 35% of the heat in apartments is lost in places that are not thermally insulated or are insulated badly, says energy specialists. The images taken by a thermovision camera at an old building located on Andrei Doga St, which is not thermally insulated and is heated by a vertical heat distribution system, and at another thermally insulated building situated at Mircea cel Bătrân Blvd, which is heated by an autonomous central heating system, show a huge difference between the losses of heat at similar air temperatures. “With the assistance of this camera, we can see what we cannot see easily. We can now check any point of the block so as to see where heat is lost,” said Yuri Yankoschi, engineer of “Termoelectrica”, noting the images of the new block show the temperatures are homogenous and the losses of heat are minimum or are absent.
● WEDNESDAY, March 3
National Bank sets five bank supervision priorities for 2021
The National Bank of Moldova (NBM) in the bank supervision process in 2021 will center on the areas that are exposed to bigger risks given the unpredictability of the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on banks in the immediate period. The five main areas are: credit risk; risk associated with information and communication technology; internal governance, management of risks and internal capital adequacy assessment process (ICAAP), anti-money laundering and terrorism financing, and payment systems. According to the NBM, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the credit risk remains a key area of the supervision process, given the direct impact of the quality of the credit portfolio on the capital of banks. Given that the online services are more frequently used in times of a pandemic, the cyber-risks to banks and clients can grow and generate significant losses and can affect the reputation of banks. Therefore, the NBM in 2021 will assess the situation in the ICT sector at the licensed banks to see how they comply with the Regulation on Minimum Requirements for Information and Communication Systems of Banks and how they manage the ICT risks to which they are exposed.
HiSky launches regular routes from Chisinau to nine destinations in Europe and Asia
HiSky has announced the relaucnh of the regular flights from the Chisinau International Airport. The company will operate flights to nine destinations in Europe and Asia, namely: London, Dublin, Istanbul, Lisbon, Frankfurt, Paris, Tel Aviv, Moscow, and Saint Petersburg. Tickets are already available from www.hisky.aero and the partner agencies. The schedule of the regular flights operated by HiSky is as follows. The company’s director general Iulian Scorpan said HiSky will also provide charter flights.
BEM depositors who will get indexed deposits in 2021 agreed
The Government approved the age categories of the depositors of Banca de Economii (BEM) for paying the sums indexed in 2021. These are the depositors born before 1991 inclusive, who will get the indexed deposits at the first indexation stage, and the depositors born before 1957 inclusive, who will get the indexed deposits at the second indexation stage. The state budget law for 2021 includes 70 million lei for the purpose. In the Cabinet meeting, Tatiana Ivanichkina, secretary of state at the Ministry of Finance, said the citizens must go to the offices of the state-run enterprise “Moldova’s Post Office” with the identity card and the documents confirming savings in accounts opened before January 1, 1992.
● THURSDAY, March 4
Applications to obtain licenses for providing payment services can be filed online
The applications for obtaining licenses for providing payment services or issuing digital currency and for acquiring qualified participation in a nonbank payment service provider can be filed electronically through the web portal of the Information System of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) concerning licensing, authorization and notification. The NBM says that payment societies/societies issuing digital currency can use this platform to register agents, to modify the license and for other operations with this (authorized copies, renewal of license and authorized copies of renewed license, duplicate of license and authorized copies of duplicate of license, application to have license withdrawn).
Norms for calculating and applying fuel prices to be debated
A bill that sets down general norms for calculating and applying the prices of the main oil products is to be examined in Parliament next week. Such a decision was taken in the March 4 sitting of the legislature. Bill author Alexandru Oleinic said the proposed amendments are aimed at limiting abuses by creating an economic environment based on the principle of market economy. “The changes adopted by Parliament to the law on oil products market in July 2018, by which the importers and sellers of oil products are allowed to set the prices themselves, are unjustified,” stated the MP. The bill contains an annex where it is presented the formula for calculating the highest retail prices of oil products.
Law on domestic trade amended
The MPs on March 4 adopted the bill to amend the law on domestic trade in the final reading. This is aimed at eliminating the normative discrepancies existing in the legislative framework concerning domestic trade and at adjusting the procedural regulations to the regulations stipulated in the law on the regulation of entrepreneurial activity by authorization and the law on the main principles for regulating the entrepreneurial activity. The bill was proposed by the Government. This said the new law will exclude any possibility of avoiding the payment of local taxes, including by incorporating the typology of retail units into their content by systematizing (codifying) and supplementing them. The bill also includes provisions concerning the selling of products or services at a reduced price that are stipulated in a new separate chapter.
MPs extend period for privatizing dwellings
The persons who live in dwellings that can be privatized can register them in their name until May 31, 2024, in accordance with the Law on the Cadaster of Real Estate. The extension of the period that is to expire on May 31, 2020 is stipulated in a draft law that was given a first reading by Parliament. PPPDA MP Vasile Năstase said the bill was drafted at the request of citizens who haven’t yet managed to register the dwellings in their name for different reasons. The MPs formulated a number of proposals, including excluding the period by which the dwellings should be privatized. The proposals will be considered when the bill is given a second reading.
● FRIDAY, March 5
Protest of SMEs: “Fight pandemic, not jobs”
A number of owners and employees of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on March 5 protested in central Chisinau to show their dissatisfaction with the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission’s decision by which they were banned from working on the weekend. They consider the decision is discriminatory as other retail units are allowed to work. They chanted: “Fight the pandemic, not the jobs!”, “We want equity, not discrimination!”. The protest started in front of the Government Building and then the protesters walked to the Presidential Palace. One of protesters’ leaders said that after a hard summer during which they were banned from working, they were pushed closer to bankruptcy. They didn’t get assistance from the state. They lent money and overcame the crisis. But this winter the SMEs were again turned into “scapegoats”. If they continue this way, the employees of SMEs will lose their jobs.
Programs similar to ECIPES essentially reduced costs in Baltic states, IDEP Moldova
Experts of the Institute for Development and Expertise of Projects (IDEP), who promote the implementation of the ECIPES Program in Moldova, said that similar programs in the Baltic states essentially reduced the costs for electrical energy. In a news conference at IPN, Iurie Calestru, IDEP programs director, said that MEPs, authorities of localities with over 6 million inhabitants, education institutions with about 300,000 students and representatives of the business community ask that the ECIPES program be approved. “Today, March 5, 2021, we addressed a letter to the European Commission, which is supported by five MEPs from three countries, Romania, Slovakia and Italy, asking the European Commission, the Directorate General for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations and the European Commissioner for Budget and Administration to adopt the ECIPES program. We asked for support from the European Committee of the Regions in the dialogue with the European Commission. This approach was supported by public authorities that represent over 6 million citizens of the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Lithuania and Poland,” stated Iurie Calestru.
CFM sold batch of scrap iron for 16m lei to clear salary arrears
The state-run enterprise “Moldova’s Railway” (CFM) sold a lot of scrap iron for 16 million lei. The money will go to clear the salary arrears of the enterprise. CFM fist vice director for strategic planning Vitalie Mucan in a press briefing assured that the employees will be paid their salaries fully. The enterprise’s salary fund for a month is of 27 million lei. Currently, they are paying the salary for last November and will then pay the overdue salaries for last December. The enterprise works and transports freight and the money is used to pay salaries and to purchase diesel fuel.
Shopping centers allowed to work on Saturday and Sunday
The shopping centers will resume work on Saturday and Sunday, by obeying a number of anti-epidemic measures. Such a decision was taken by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission on March 5. The managers of shopping centers will be obliged to monitor the state of health of employees, to strictly measure the temperature of each visitor and to make sure that the visitors wear a mask. The persons with fever will not be allowed to enter the shops. Inside, the number of visitors should meet the ratio of 1 visitor per 4 square meters. In a press release, the Government says the new norms that refer to shopping centers were discussed with representatives of these and were accepted.
● SATURDAY, March 6
Base rate on main monetary policy operations kept at 2.65%
The values of the main monetary policy instruments remain at the current level, as the Executive Board of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) decided on March 5. Thus, the base rate applied to the main short-term monetary policy operations is 2.65 percent annually. Similarly, interest rates on overnight loans and deposits are maintained - 5.15 percent and 0.15 percent annually, respectively. At the same time, the required reserve ratio from the means attracted in Moldovan lei and in non-convertible currency were diminished by 2.0 percentage points, down to 30.0% of the calculation base.
About 70 national producers exhibit goods at “Take Moldova Home” fair
Approximately 70 national producers from a number of country’s districts will exhibit their products at the fair “Take Moldova Home” at the Alunelul Park in Buiucani district of Chisinau on March 6 and 7. The organizers said over 100 producers announced their intention to take part, but fewer were accepted owing to the restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Diana Crudu, a member of the National Farmers Federation who is in charge of the organization of the event, said the small producers at the fair sell grapes, apples, dried fruit, chocolate-covered fruit, bee honey, aged cheese, wines and handicrafts. Some 90% of the participants in the fair are women running agribusinesses. Priority was given to them because the event is held before the 8th of March.
Agricultural year 2021 stats without unpleasant surprises
For field crops, the agricultural year 2021 starts at the end of March or the start of April, while for fruit trees and vine it started earlier, Vasile Șarban, division head at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment. According to Vasile Șarban, the autumn agricultural works were performed on time. There were sowed 401,000 ha of farmland, as in the autumn of 2019. Winter wheat was sowed on about 318,000 ha, barley on 47,000 ha, rape on 34,000 ha, while other agricultural crops on about 2,000 ha. The crop fields in 2020 were similar in area, but they were affected by the drought of 2019. The functionary noted they received no complaints about damage caused to crops by the frosts of minus 20 degrees Celsius witnessed in the second half of this February. Those frosts weren’t critical for crops.
