● MONDAY, October 5

Banks under special administration to stop administering deposit accounts

Within the preparations for withdrawing the licenses of Banca de Economii, Unibank and Banca Sociala, the given banks will stop administering the sight and time deposits of natural and legal persons starting with October 9, 9pm. In a press release, the National Bank of Moldova says that after 9pm, all the money that will come into the accounts of natural and legal persons will be returned to the initiator of the payment, except for the money intended for servicing loans obtained from the three banks. The clients of Banca de Economii, Unibank and Banca Sociala will continue to have access to their sight and time deposits until the available balance is used. Before withdrawing the licenses of the three banks, the unused money from the deposits of natural and legal persons will be transferred in a centralized way to other banks, by keeping the contract conditions of the existing deposits.

● TUESDAY, October 6

Moldovan-Dutch partnership in combating spam

The state-run company “MoldData” and the Dutch company “SpamExperts” established partnership relations for combating spam and malware in the Republic of Moldova. “MoldData” has so far used different in-house anti-spam solutions, but these were not every time efficient because they could not control and reduce the large volume of spam. The two companies will implement message filtering out methods on entry and exist. Thus, the risk for the users to receive or send harmful email messages will be eliminated. The anti-spam service is provided free to the users of the hosting services provided by “MoldData”. The anti-spam technology was implemented only locally, based on the first public cloud platform in Moldova.

Over €8m lost following modification of format of National Wine Day

As the format of the National Wine Day celebrations was modified, the involved economic entities failed to collect over €8 million. The calculations were presented by the Tourism Promotion Federation of Moldova. According to a communique of the Federation, the winemakers, with small exceptions, were unprepared to receive visitors or tourists. “Castelul Mimi” was the only company that directly took part in the organization and promotion of the event. The company “Asconi”, which won the prize for the best wine producer in 2015, became involved to a lesser extent. The other companies didn’t do much to attract tourists as they considered the National Office of Vine and Wine should do this.

Farmers threaten with new protests

If the state’s debts to the farmers are not cleared this week, the agricultural produces will mount protests before the Government Building, said the chairman of the National Union of Agricultural Producers Associations “UniAgroProtect” Alexandru Slusari.In a press statement, Slusari says the state didn’t pay all the overdue agricultural subsidies for 2014. There is also no clarity as regards the payment of compensations to farmers owning over 15 ha of land for 2014.

Oil companies that do not fulfill ANRE’s prescriptions risk losing license

The National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) said the oil companies risk remaining without licenses if they do not fulfill the prescriptions issued by it following the identification of irregularities. Under the methodology for calculating oil prices, the license holders are obliged to submit the calculations concerning the modification of prices to the ANRE within three days before the application of the new prices. In the second half of September, the ANRE issued prescriptions to 51 oil companies by which it requested presenting the given calculations, but its request was ignored.

● WEDNESDAY, October 7

Employers formulate proposals for improving activity of economic entities

The employers put forward three position documents designed to combat informal economy, improve the social dialogue and make the labor legislation more flexible. The documents that were presented on October 7 contain a set of policies aimed at reducing the shadow economy and informal employment and legislative recommendations for adjusting the labor legislation to the current socioeconomic context. Chairman of the National Employers Confederation of Moldova Leonid Cerescu said the documents are to be submitted to decision makers. These were worked out following the signing of a memorandum between the Government and the Confederation after the Business Forum. “Today’s event is a follow-up to the activity of the National Employers Confederation that promotes the idea of creating more favorable working conditions for economic entities,” he stated.

Electric power consumers could be able to change supplier

The consumers of electricity will be able to change the supplier, if they want to. At least this is provided in a bill on electric power that is to be discussed by the Government in its October 7 meeting. The bill stipulates that the end-users can sign a contract for the supply of electricity with the company of their choice. “Each end-user has the right to a free choice and to replace the supplier, if they fulfilled their financial obligations to the current supplier, and the right to have access to all the relevant data concerning power consumption,” it is said in the bill.

Agriculture minister on visit to Moscow

Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Ion Sula is paying a working visit to Moscow on October 7-8. During the visit, the minister will have meetings with his Russian counterpart and with the administration of the federal services “Rosselkhoznadzor” and “Rospotrebnadzor”. Among the subjects that are to be raised is the ban imposed by Russia on the import of Moldovan food products. In a press release, the Ministry of Agriculture says that Ion Sula will be accompanied by Grigore Porcescu, acting director general of the National Food Safety Agency. They will have bilateral meetings with Russian Minister of Agriculture Alexandr Tkachyov and with the head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance “Rosselkhoznadzor” Sergey Dankvert.

EU launches new twinning project in quality infrastructure

The European Union on October 7 launched a new twinning project in the area of quality infrastructure, which envisions the provision of support to the National Accreditation Center MOLDAC. Within the project, assistance will be offered in implementing the recommendations of the European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA) concerning the national accreditation system so that MOLDAC could be afterward accepted as a signatory to the Multilateral Recognition Agreement (EA MLA). In a communique, the Ministry of Economy says the project will be implemented during six months, in cooperation with the Italian National Accreditation Body ACCREDIA, and has a budget of about €220,000. It includes three assessments of the management system of MOLDAC, revision and improvement of the documents of this institution, and organization of six training seminars for the personnel of MOLDAC and certification bodies. There will be made three fact-finding visits to the similar Italian bodies, with the participation of MOLDAC inspectors.

Deposits from BEM, Banca Sociala and Unibank transferred to other banks

The centralized process of transferring the deposits from Banca de Economii (BEM), Unibank and Banca Socialea is underway. On October 10, starting at 1pm, all the operations with the sight and time deposits opened by natural and legal persons at the three banks will be stopped. The clients of BEM, Unibank and Banca Sociala will have access to their deposits transferred to other banks, based on the conditions of the initial contracts, starting with October 19, 2015. On October 10-19, the banks under special administration will prepare the lists of deposits together with relevant detailed information and will transfer them to other banks. The clients will receive information about the banks to which their deposits were transferred at local bank offices and through the mass media on October 12, 2015.

New law on electric power

The Government approved the draft law on electrical energy that is designed to transpose the EU directives for implementing the Third Energy Package. Thus, the new amendments define the role, obligations and responsibilities of the competent authorities and the duties, obligations and rights of the transport operator in the system, distribution operators, producers, suppliers and consumers of power for guaranteeing the supply of electric power and the smooth running of the electrical energy system. Under the bill, in order to prevent the interests of companies that provide access to the power transportation or distribution networks from interfering with the interests of one of the power producers or suppliers, these should be independent, first of all from decisional viewpoint, from the companies that produce power or supply electricity.

● THURSDAY, October 8

Access to property and divided usage of infrastructure associated with electronic communications networks regulated

The Government approved a bill on the access to property and divided usage of infrastructure associated with public electronic communications networks. The document is designed to contribute to the development of the public electronic communications networks at national level and to increase investments in infrastructure and competition between the suppliers of electronic communications networks and services. “The project simplifies and clarifies the procedures for obtaining and exercising the right of access to public or private property and encourages the divided usage of infrastructure associated with the public electronic communications networks. By laying down clear principles for determining the tariffs charged for allowing access to property, the costs of building, maintaining, replacing or relocating public electronic communications networks will be reduced, “Deputy ICT Minister Vitalie Tarlev said in the Government’s meeting.

Three food safety institutions merged into one

The state-run company “Center of Quarantine, Identification, Arbitration Expertize and Production Disinfection” will be reorganized by merger (absorption) with the state-run company “State Center for Certification of Seed Material” and the state-owned company “Center of Standardization and Determination of the Quality of Fodder and Cereal Products”. The new institution will be named the state-run company “National Center of Verification and Certification of Vegetal Products and Soil”. The goal of the reorganization is to optimize the administrative costs of state-enterprises and the provision of centralized services to beneficiaries. The reorganization will also allow relocating the labs of the given companies in a common block. This will reduce the costs incurred by economic entities as these will no longer need to travel to three different labs to benefit from testing.

Central bank signs contract with Kroll

The U.S. company Kroll was hired, together with the international law firm Steptoe&Johnson LLP, to carry out a more detailed investigation and to work out and implement a strategy for recovering the assets stolen from Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank. According to a press release of the National Bank of Moldova, under the contract, the central bank will be regularly informed about the pace of investigations during the initial period of 16 weeks. At the end of this period, Kroll and the National Bank will agree an extended investigation period and a strategy for recovering the assets.

Debates on SMEs’ role within implementation of DCFTA

The Delegation of the Europeans Union to Moldova and the Ministry of Economy initiated a public debate on the essential role of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of the implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) between Moldova and the EU. The discussions, held on October 8, centered on the conclusions and recommendations of a recent study of the support provided by the EU to the private sector in the context of the Association Agreement and the DCFTA and also on the opportunities and key challenges of the SMEs in Moldova. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Stephane Christophe Bride said the effects of the DCFTA with the EU are already felt, despite the current conditions of crisis. Compared with 2014, the SMEs’ exports to the EU grew by 12%. Moldova is going through a process of standardization. Any transition necessitates changes at technical, certification and other levels, which in time will produce more results.

● FRIDAY, October 9

National Wine Day this year attracted about 17,000 visitors 

Approximately 17,000 visitors took part in the National Wine Day this year, as against about 100,000 the previous years. Almost 40 wine producers participated in the celebration the last years, but this year the figure was four times lower. This year the holiday was hosted by ten wineries and the Association of Small Wine Producers. About 15,000 bottles of wine were sold during the two-day festivities. “During a very short period of time, we managed to organize the wine holiday in a new format. As many as 9,200 promotional bottles of wine, with the symbol “Welcome to Moldova”, were distributed at the Chisinau airport. Thirteen buses and 11 minibuses transported gratis about 3,000 people to wineries during the two days,” said Dumitru Munteanu, director of the National Office of Vine and Wine.

CReDO: Contracting of Kroll is not only solution for recovering stolen assets 

The contracting of the U.S. company Kroll for performing further the investigation by the National Bank of Moldova is not the only foreign assistance solution for recovering the money stolen from the banking sector. The suggestion was made by the Resource Center for Human Rights (CReDO), which carried out an investigation and ascertained that the cooperation between the national law enforcement bodies and the international subdivisions of BIG/StARR, which, besides recovering the stolen assets, can also track down the persons to blame, is an alternative to the contract with Kroll. CReDO executive director Sergiu Ostaf, in a news conference  said it is important not only to recover the money, what Kroll can do, but to also hold accountable the persons responsible for the bank frauds. Therefore, the proposed alternative is highly superior because the chances of holding accountable those to blame in the country and of freezing the stolen assets abroad are much greater.

Contenders for post of National Bank governor invited to submit applications 

The regulations concerning the holding of a contest to select candidates for the post of governor of the National Bank of Moldova and the public announcement concerning the contest are to be published on the Parliament’s website on October 9. Immediately after the publication, the contenders can start to file applications. The announcement was made by the head of the candidates selection commission Stefan Creanga after the meeting where the regulations were finalized. The candidates for the post of governor of the National Bank will be selected at a free and transparent contest, based on the criterion of meritocracy. The candidates must meet the following conditions: have higher education, bachelor or similar degree; know preferentially English; have seniority in the financial-banking sector, and be citizens of Moldova.

Moldova to be visited by Russian phytosanitary specialists 

Phytosanitary specialists from Russia are expected to pay a visit to Moldova to discuss the phytosanitary requirements of the Russian side with experts of the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA). The visit is to be made at the invitation of Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Ion Sula and the Agency’s acting director general Grigore Porcescu, which was issued during a visit to Moscow. The Moldovan officials had a meeting with the Russian deputy minister of agriculture and the head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor). The interlocutors spoke about the progress made by the ANSA in the sanitary-veterinary sector and about the removal of the irregularities identified at animal slaughtering units during the visit paid by experts of Rosselkhoznadzor last November. The Moldovan side asked including all the Moldovan meat producing companies that meet the hygiene and safety criteria imposed by Russia in the list of exporters.

Negotiations with Gazprom could be closed by end-November 

Moldova is negotiating with Gazprom the quantity of gas that will be imported in 2016 and the negotiations could be closed by the end of November, Deputy Minister of Economy Valeriu Triboi announced in a news conference, without specifying the possible purchase price of natural gas. Currently, Moldova pays US$204 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas and the deputy minister said he considers that this is a good price. Valeriu Triboi also said that the Transnistrian consumers’ debt for the natural gas supplied by the Russian company totals US$780 million. “We work with the representatives of Gazprom to identify a formula for scheduling the payments on the debt over ten years so as to reduce the burden on consumers,” he stated.

ANRE provides details about purchase price of imported power 

The National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE) said the press reports that the real price of electric power imported from the Cuchurgan Power Plant should be 1.8 cents per kWh, not 6.78 cents per kWh, as it is provided in the purchase contract for 2015, are erroneous. The ANRE says the authors of these reports ignored the fact that US$1.8 cents per kWh is the price at which the Cuchurgan Power Plant provides the service to convert energy from natural gas into electric power. Thus, the given price does not include the price of natural gas consumed to produce electricity (US$157 per 1,000 cubic meters), which represents about 80% of the total power production costs or about 5 cents per kWh.

● SATURDAY,  October 10

Half a billion lei for compensations

About half a billion lei will be allocated from the state budget in 2016 for providing compensations to the socially deprived groups of people given the expected rise in the electric power and natural gas charges. Over 90 million lei will be needed for offering compensations for the months of October, November and December of this year, Deputy Minister of Economy Valeriu Triboi said in a news conference. According to the official, the authorities are between the hammer and anvil. The IMF said a new cooperation program will be negotiated with Moldova if the authorities adjust the electric power and natural gas tariffs. “Effort is now made to identify the sources from which to provide compensations,” said Valeriu Triboi.

Ungheni–Chisinau gas pipeline will be put into operation in May 2018

The works to build the Ungheni–Chisinau gas pipeline will start in several months and are expected to be completed in May 2018, Deputy Minister of Economy Valeriu Triboi told a news conference. “Next week we will have meetings with the Romanian side on the sidelines of the meeting of the intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation. We will look for solutions to accelerate the process of building the interconnections so as to meet the terms stipulated in the memorandum signed by Moldova and Romania,” said Triboi. The costs of the building works were assessed at €83 million. €10 million will be provided by the EU. The other costs will be covered with loans that will be taken out from international banking institutions.

Consumer prices went up in September

The consumer prices in September grew by 1.2% on August. Compared with last September, the prices increased by 12.6%. The National Bureau of Statistics said the average consumer prices rose as a result of the 2.2% increase in the food prices. In September, the prices of hen eggs rose by 16.8%, of fresh vegetables – by 9.7%, of citrus fruit – by 6.4%, of sugar – by 4.0%, of vegetal oil – by 3.3%, of mutton – by 2.9% , of potatoes – by 2.7%, of milk and milk products – by 1.8%, of rice - by 1.6%. At the same time, the prices of orchard fruits fell by 15.2%, of grapes – by 14.1%, of dry onion – by 2.5%, of walnuts – by 1.3%.