● TUESDAY, October 17

Victor Parlicov: Our gas supplies are enough until next February

The Republic of Moldova has natural gas supplies that are sufficient until February and the purchases will continue, said Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov. According to him, the citizens this winter will be supplied with natural gas purchased from the international market, at the most advantageous prices. The minister avoided saying if the gas charge could be decreased, but assured that there are no preconditions for the charge to rise.

Vadim Ceban: I do not see preconditions for decreasing gas charge

For now, there are no preconditions for reducing the gas charge, said the president of the Administration Board of Moldovagaz Vadim Ceban. According to the official, the current charge perfectly reflects the purchase price and if the trends are downwards, the charge could be decreased only in 2024. Vadim Ceban said Energocom now does not purchase gas as the prices of methane started again to rise owing to instability on the international market.

Only one third of frozen fish products contain accurate information on label, NFSA

The labels of only one third of the frozen fish products or seafood provide correct information about the content of ice. Most of the irregularities were identified in the sale of frozen seafood and fish fillet, shows the report of an inspection carried out by the National Food Safety Agency (NFSA) in September.

Founders of peasant farmsteads urged to check status with LPAs

The founders of peasant farmsteads should check their status with the local public authorities to see if the farm was included or not in the deregistration list according to the law that was adopted by Parliament in March 2022.  If the mayor’s office didn’t put the farms on the list of those that are to be deregistered, these are considered active farms and the founders will be obliged to annually pay the mandatory health insurance premium in fixed amount, director general of the National Health Insurance Company Ion Dodon stated in a news conference.

Preferential loans and grants to increase energy efficiency and stored gas supplies

Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov, on the sidelines of the fourth Moldova Support Platform Summit, signed two agreements on the provision of preferential loans and grants to increase energy efficiency and the stored gas supplies.

IMF team reaches staff-level agreement with Moldovan authorities on fourth review

The IMF team and the Moldovan authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on policies for completion of the fourth review under the Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility (ECF/EFF) arrangements, and also on a new Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement.

This comes following an IMF mission, conducted during September 25-October 16.

● WEDNESDAY, October 18

Cabinet ratifies agreement on Moldova’s participation in Single Market Program

The Cabinet ratified the agreement on the Republic of Moldova’s participation in the European Union’s Single Market Program. The program was conceived to prepare the private sector and the state institutions for the European rules and standards, offering a more coherent and responsive financing framework for strengthening the capacities to join the EU’s Single Market.

New Urban Planning and Building Code to be presented to Parliament Thursday

The one-story houses in rural areas and the fruit-growing associations could be registered on condition that the owners declare on one’s own responsibility that they respect all the safety norms. This is provided in the Urban Planning and Building Code that was presented by Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu. In a news conference, the minister said that he will go to Parliament on Thursday to present the document.

● THURSDAY, October 19

Cabinet ratifies agreement on Moldova’s participation in Single Market Program

The Cabinet ratified the agreement on the Republic of Moldova’s participation in the European Union’s Single Market Program. The program was conceived to prepare the private sector and the state institutions for the European rules and standards, offering a more coherent and responsive financing framework for strengthening the capacities to join the EU’s Single Market.

National Seed Research and Production Center to be created

A National Seed Research and Production Center is to be created in Moldova. The new public entity will be responsible for conducting scientific research to ensure the country’s food security.

According to a decision approved by the Government, the National Seed Research and Production Center will be established through the reorganization of the Porumbeni Phytotechnics Institute, which will take over the Selecția Field Crops Research Institute.

De minimis aid ceiling for enterprises raised to EU level

The ceiling of de minimis aid offered by the state to enterprises will be raised to the EU level. This way, the value of this will grow from 2 million lei to 5 million lei per beneficiary, regardless of the form of this, for a three-year period. In the case of enterprises, the total value of aid will not exceed 10 million lei. This is provided in a bill that was given a first reading by Parliament.

Disputes between costumers and traders could be solved out of court

Disputes regarding consumption could be settled out of court. The MPs gave a first reading to a bill that introduces in the national legal framework a mechanism for resolving such types of disputes without a trial, outside mediation and arbitration.

The bill to amend the law on consumer protection was drafted by the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitization. The authors of the document suggest instituting alternative dispute resolution that could be used for any market sector, except for health and education services. A body will be set up at the State Inspectorate for the Supervision of Nonfood Products and Consumers Protection, which will be responsible for the implementation of alternative dispute resolution. The dispute resolution period will be of 90 days.

Italian businessman who sells Moldovan fruit worldwide presents offer at Moldagrotech

“Plums from Moldova for the entire world”. This is the slogan with which the company Leone.Va SRL presented products, primarily dried grapes, plums and apricots, at the exhibition Moldagrotech-2023 that was opened on Thursday at Moldexpo. The exporter, who is a citizen of Italy, spoke about the opportunities of cooperating with Moldovan producers, but referred also to a number of obstacles met in the Republic of Moldova, especially bureaucracy.

European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation proposed between Romania and Moldova

The Institute for Project Development and Expertise (IDEP) and the Intercommunity Development Association EURONEST propose the creation of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, an instrument that could improve the lives of people in the region by jointly accessing European projects.

● FRIDAY, October 20

Small energy producers seek nondiscriminatory conditions on market

Dissensions appeared between green energy producers and the Ministry of Energy after Parliament gave a first reading to a bill to promote renewable energy sources. The small producers operating in this sector said the authorities encourage only the large companies that have big photovoltaic and Aeolian parks to the detriment of small producers. For their part, representatives of the Ministry of Energy said the state aims to ensure the country’s energy security and the encouragement of large projects means competitive prices.

Dumitru Alaiba: Governments had put off patent reform for 25 years

Some 95% of the traders who earlier worked based on the entrepreneur’s patent switched over to independent activity and complied with all the legal requirements, said Minister of Economic Development and Digitization Dumitru Alaiba. According to him, the patent reform is beneficial as the people realize the necessity of working transparently and legally. Minister Alaiba noted that he makes purchases at the market and receives a receipt.

Pays of medical personnel up

The salaries of personnel of public health facilities will be raised by 15% retroactively, as of October 1. Parliament gave a final reading to amendments to the law on the mandatory health insurance funds for 2023, adopting them, IPN reports.

Under the bill proposed by the Ministry of Health, both the revenues and expenditure of the mandatory health insurance funds will be increased by about 399 million lei or 12.8%. The rise was primarily needed to cover the 15% pay raise for medical personnel as from October 1.

Revenues of insurance companies rose in first half of 2023

The financial situation in the insurance sector during the first six months of this year was characterized by a rise in revenues, gross written premiums, paid insurance and technical reserves. The revenues of insurance companies grew considerably compared with the corresponding period last year, mainly as a result of the increase in revenues from investments.

The National Commission for Financial Markets supervised the insurance sector in the first half of this year. As from July 1, the National Bank of Moldova exercises the duties to license, authorize, regulate and supervise insurance or reinsurance companies, intermediaries in insurance and/or reinsurance and the National Bureau of Motor Insurers of Moldova.

● SATURDAY, October 21

Loans repayable in two to five years remain most popular ones

The new loans provided in September came to 4.648.3 billion lei, an increase of over 6% on August. Almost 71% of these were loans in national currency, which totaled 3.295,3 billion lei, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points on a month before.

The National Bank of Moldova said the loans repayable in two to five years remained the most popular ones with a share of almost 60.4% of the total loans released. Such loans provided to legal entities constituted 42.8% of all the loans.