Moldova to be stricken by world economic crisis, to be spared by financial crisis, premier

“Unlike the world financial crisis, the economic crisis will certainly hit Moldova, some way or another,” Moldovan Prime-Minister Zinaida Greceanai stated on the Parliament's floor on December 12, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Not being directly exposed to losses caused by falling capital markets, the Moldovan banks are advantaged in terms of risk indices: solvency and liquidity. The solid currency reserves are also a stabilizing factor,” Zinaida Greceanai said. However, “the openness and involvement of the Moldovan economy in the world economic circuit will trigger its being hit by the world economic crisis,” the Prim-Minister says. “The falling demand on the world markets, including the ones from the East, can affect and is already affecting the Moldovan exports. I mean produce exports, mainly, amplified by the huge harvest in the region. The economic crisis will influence the domestic consumption and the imports, consequently, what can echo in the national budget. “Realizing this situation, when presenting the draft budget to the Parliament, we were as prudent as possible. Thus, provided the budget-fiscal policies are kept sufficiently austere, the budget indices for 2009 will be carried out, as the public needs will be financed only within the boundaries of the legal provisions,” the premier said. Zinaida Greceanai is confident that the Moldovan economy will not be seriously hurt. “The tax frame, the attractive conditions for investments and the sustainability of the banking system inspire us with grounded confidence that the effects of the recession will be absorbed. In addition, the state will go on impulsing the economy by investing in infrastructure and creating favorable conditions for legal entrepreneurship,” the premier said.