Crisis highlights necessity of efficient dialogue between authorities and businesses, expert

The economic recovery in Moldova will be slow if no institutional reforms are promoted and the business climate is not improved, Alex Oprunenco, of the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup”, was quoted by Info-Prim Neo as saying. The expert raised the issue at a recent conference themed “Economic Crisis in Moldova: Defining a New Model of Economic Government.” Oprunenco considers that the monetary or fiscal stimuli that can be now employed are limited in number and can have only short-term effects on the real sector of the economy, if the current structural shortcomings are not removed. According to the expert, the competition on the market should be fair and the companies should work according to the law. The rules of the game must be laid down transparently, not on the basis of group or personal interests. The list of companies subjected to privatization should be immediately reviewed and the quasi-state owned enterprises should be disposed of. The ensuring of the independence of the market regulation agencies and institutions or of certain segments of the market is also a major objective. The regulatory reform should be restarted by further removing the barriers to setting up, developing and closing businesses and the formal and informal obstacles to the Moldovan exports, abandoning monopolist practices as regards the observance of standards and testing of the quality, in wine-making for example, Alex Oprunenco said, adding that ten more local officials impose conditions that the producers must meet, besides Russia’s Onishchenko (Ghennady Onishchenko, the chief sanitary inspector of Russia – e.n.) Oprunenco said that the authorities and the businesspeople should establish an efficient dialogue so as to constantly deal with the obstacles that hinder the businesses. The racket encouraged by the state in the form of corporate social responsibility to force the companies make charitable contributions should also be removed.