ECO-BUS WEEKLY DIGEST August 17 - 23. Most important Economy & Business news by IPN

● MONDAY, August 17

IMF mission takes note of Victoriabank indictment

The IMF mission in Moldova says it has taken note of the Anticorruption Prosecutor's indictment against Victoriabank and the recent court authorization to seize its assets in connection with the 2014 bank fraud investigation. “It is critical to achieve tangible progress recovering assets from the 2014 bank fraud through an independent and comprehensive investigation and prosecution,” Ruben Atoyan, the IMF mission chief for Moldova, said in a press release. “Following the 2014 fraud, several important reforms have been taken to clean up and modernize Moldova’s banking sector, including Banka Transilvania’s entry into Victoriabank, in strategic partnership with the EBRD, which has been a major milestone. Hard-earned progress in this area should be protected,” reads the press release.

● TUESDAY, August 18

72 businesses started by women will receive non-refundable funding

The Supervisory Committee of the Women in Business Program approved the winners of the Fifth Small Grant Contest. 156 entrepreneurs registered for the competition and 72 were selected for non-refundable funding. Iulia Costin, General Manager of ODIMM, pointed out, that the Women in Business Program has shown impressive results. “We are proud to offer the opportunities to our women to be involved in the entrepreneurial network. ODIMM will continue to redeem female entrepreneurial capabilities, to make viable business ideas to be implemented and become best practices models,”said Iulia Costin. The total amount of grants is about 9.02 million lei. Funding the 72 women-run companies will create about 219 new jobs. Around 55% of approved investment projects are in the services sector, another 38% will operate in the manufacturing industry, and 7% are from agriculture.

● FRIDAY, August 22

Farmers pull tractors out of street, but ‘not giving up’

The farmers that have demanded larger drought relief subsidies are pulling their tractors out of the street, but say this doesn’t mean they are giving up their claims. Sergiu Stefanco, a cultivator from Căușeni, says farmers hoped to see an adequate reaction from the authorities to their peaceful protest, but they have to leave now because they have to work the land. This doesn’t mean though that they have given up, says Stefanco. By leaving, he added, they give the Government a break to find solutions and avoid the situation where even more people take to the street in a month. Andrei Melinte, a member of the protesters’ committee, said he was offended to be called a “beggar”. “We are not beggars as government representatives call us. We are people that had the courage to start businesses in agriculture with our own forces.” He says farmers don’t ask for the government’s money, they just ask their own money back. Farmers paid a total of 1.8 billion lei in value added tax, Melinte explained. He added that the compensation of 3,000 lei per hectare that farmers demand is enough to cover just 30% of what they invested.

● SATURDAY, August 23

Moldovan Leu gains 2.7% on US Dollar in July

In July, the Moldovan Leu grew by an average 1.4% relative to the US Dollar. The currency has reached 17.0818 MDL/USD compared to 17.3265 MDL/USD in June. According to end-of-month data for July, MDL has grown by 2.7% relative to the USD. The National Bank (BNM) says that the net currency offer from natural persons has again been dominated by the Euro (80.8%). In July, the net currency offer by natural persons has covered 115.2% of the net demand for currency by businesses, compared to 109.4% in June. Relative to the previous month, the net currency offer by natural persons has grown by 33.5 million dollars (+16.7%), and net demand for currency by businesses has grown by 19.8 million dollars (+10.8%).

New deposits on the decrease relative to last year

Fixed term deposits attracted throughout July have amounted to 2,273.4 million lei. This represents a 5% decrease relative to the same period last year. National currency deposits tally at 64.2% vs 35.8% of deposits attracted in foreign currencies, reports IPN, quoting the National Bank of Moldova. The amount of national currency deposits attracted totals at 1,460.6 million lei (+19.6% relative to the previous month, and -4% relative to July 2019). Foreign currency deposits reconverted to MDL total at 812,8 million lei (+23% relative to the previous month, and -6.9% relative to July 2019). Deposits attracted in July have been dominated by individual deposits - 74.5% (46.9% in national currency and 27.6% in foreign currency). The most attractive offers, in terms of lifecycle, were the deposits termed between 6 and 12 months (39.7% of all term deposits attracted).