● MONDAY, June 18
94m lei subsidies paid to agricultural producers so far
About 94 million lei were transferred as subsidies to agricultural producers based on 770 files from February until now. In a press release, the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture said the agricultural producers applied for subsidies for purchasing conventional agricultural machinery, building packing houses, buying cold storage facilities for fruit, grapes and vegetables. The producers from Cahul, Hancesti and Orhei districts filed the largest number of applications. Applications for subsidies for this year’s campaign started to be received on February 1 and will be accepted until October 31.
● TUESDAY, June 19
Disposable incomes of population up 10.3% in first quarter
The disposable incomes of the population in the first quarter of this year rose by 10.3% compared with the corresponding period last year, to 2,353 lei a month on average per person. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the salary revenues are the main source of income, representing 40.8% of the disposable incomes. The incomes of the urban population were by 897.5 lei larger than the incomes of the rural population. The salaried activity is the main source of livelihood for the urban population. This represented 51.5% of all the incomes. The population’s average monthly consumption costs in the first quarter of this year were 2,330 lei on average per person, up 11.4% compared with January-March last year.
● WEDNESDAY, June 20
Court of Auditors examines financial situations of Office of People’s Ombudsperson
The financial situations of the Office of the People’s Ombudsperson provide a real picture of the non-financial and financial situation of the institution on December 31, 2017, shows the audit report presented by the Court of Auditors. The audit team said the auditors were limited in obtaining sufficient evidence of the institution’s participation in technical assistance projects financed by an international organization. It was determined that the financial resources earmarked for purchasing goods haven’t been used during many years. The Office of the People’s Ombudsperson in 2017 managed allocations of 10.8 million lei. Of these, 10.4 million lei represented state budget allocations, while 0.4 million lei were sources from donations made by the development partners. The balance of unused funds at the end of last year came to 0.7 million lei. The Office administered non-financial assets totaling 16.8 million lei. The auditors established that the equipment bought in 2014 for laying out the conference hall of the Office of the People’s Ombudsperson, to the value of 729,900 lei, hasn’t been yet used, being kept in the storehouse. People’s Ombudsman Mihai Cotorobai said many of these deficiencies were inherited. These and other problems could be dealt with, but not in the conditions in which this institution works now.
● THURSDAY, June 21
Kiril Gaburici: We need stability for a powerful economy
For a powerful economy, the Republic of Moldova needs stability. Economic growth cannot be ensured when there is chaos in the country, Minister of Economy and Infrastructure Kiril Gaburici. The minister expressed his confidence that the Republic of Moldova can achieve an economic growth higher than 4.5%, but stability is needed for the purpose. As regards the gas supply, the minister said that when Moldova has an alternative and is able to import gas from Romania, it will be more independent. Besides, emphasis is placed on the use of renewable sources of energy at domestic level. As to the diversification of the electric power supply sources, Kiril Gaburici said there is the possibility of connecting the national system to the European networks independently or together with the neighboring state Ukraine.
Pre-contract for purchase of shares in Moldova Agroindbank authorized
The Cabinet approved the signing of a pre-contract for the purchase of newly issued shares in Moldova Agroindbank with an international consortium of investors. On June 19, 2018, the Executive Board of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) approved the acquisition by an international consortium of investors of 41.09 percent stake in the share capital of the commercial bank Moldova Agroindbank SA. The consortium includes the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Horizon Capital, a private equity and venture capital firm managing through the Emerging Europe Growth Fund III the investments of reputable international financial institutions such as the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (founded by the US Treasury through USAID), the EBRD, the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), the Dutch Development Bank, the German Investment Company and the French Development Agency (PROPARCO), and Invalda INVL, a listed investment firm from Lithuania, specializing in financial and banking markets.
Cabinet approves changes to Law on Government Procurement
The Cabinet agreed amendments to the Law on Government Procurement that transpose the recommendations of Directive 2014/24/EU. According to the Ministry of Finance, a more complex government procurement regulatory framework is instituted, but this is also more applicable because it offers clarity as to a number of notions and concepts.The contracting authority, before initiating the assignment procedure, will have the right to organize market consultations by communicating with independent experts, public authorities or economic operators or representative organizations of these on condition that the communication does not affect the fair competition environment. Electronic instruments will be introduced to facilitate electronic communication in the procurement system. There will be introduced the European Single Procurement Document that is supplied electronically by using the standard format set by the European Commission. It a self-declaration of the businesses’ financial status, abilities and suitability for a public procurement procedure. The representatives of civil society that took part in the debates on the draft law approved of the bill. However, they suggested supplementing Article 43 with the following clause: “The government procurement file is a public document and this can be offered, at request, to any interested person when the procurement procedure is completed. Limitation of access to the government procurement file can take place only based on the legislation on the state secret or on the commercial secret.”
Penalties for misusing meal vouchers
The recipients of meal vouchers who will sell the vouchers or will allow other persons to use these will be fined 2,500 to 5,000 lei. The penalties were introduced into the Contravention Code by amendments that were approved by the Cabinet. If the employers reduce the salaries of employees for the reason that they offer them meal vouchers, these will face fines of over 10,000 lei. The same penalty is imposed for putting the used or restored meal vouchers into circulation repeatedly. The vendors who will sell tobacco products or alcoholic drinks for meal vouchers will be fined up to 15,000 lei, while the public eating places that will exchange meal vouchers for money will be fined up to 20,000 lei.Under the current regulations, the nominal value of a meal voucher should be at least 35 lei. The meal vouchers can be used only to buy food products, except for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.
● FRIDAY, June 22
Management of competition sector is strategic and planned for a long term, audit
The financial reports of the Competition Council offer a real picture of financial situation of the institution, shows the audit report presented by the Court of Auditors in a public meeting on June 21. The Competition Council is an autonomous public authority that enforces the legislation on competition, state aid and advertising. Its mission is to make sure that the markets work for the consumers’ benefit by encouraging and ensuring the free competition in all the areas of economic activity. Last year the Council was financed with state budget allocations (19.1m lei) and the tax paid for the examination of notifications about economic concentrations (0.7m lei), while the effective costs came to 19.3m lei. The value of the property managed by the Council was 5.3m lei at the end of 2017. The audit team showed the collected proofs were sufficient to determine that the management of the competition sector is strategic and planned for a long term. The activities defined in the plan for 2017 were carried out in strict correlation with the preset performance indicators, ensuring the achievement of about 98% of these indicators. The Competition Council showed responsibility and implemented over 91% of the previous recommendations of the Court of Auditors. Answering questions about state aid, Viorica Carare said the state aid offered to economic operators last year represented 4% of the GDP, but this is to be reduced to 1% by 2020.
Pre-contract for purchase of 41.09% holding in Moldova Agroindbank signed
The Public Property Agency, in the name of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, signed a pre-contract for the acquisition of a 41.09% stake in the share capital of the commercial bank Moldova Agroindbank SA with the international consortium of investors consisting of the EBRD, Invalda INVL and Horizon Capital. Minister of Economy Kiril Gaburici said he expects this transaction will have an immediate positive effect on the national economy. According to the minister, the Government’s intention is to successfully complete the process of ensuring transparency and consolidating the banking system. The consortium’s representative Henry Russell, EBRD Director For Financial Institutions in Western Balkans, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, congratulated the Government and the National Bank of Moldova on the decision that will massively clean the country’s banking system. National Bank vice governor Ion Sturzu said the central bank welcomes good and financially powerful shareholders to the national banking system. The new investors are expected to come with good international policies that would improve corporate governance at the bank. The consortium intends to carry out the proposed acquisition through an investment firm, specifically created for this purpose - HEIM PARTNERS Ltd., registered in the United Kingdom with headquarters in London.
● SATURDAY, June 23
Chisinau to host Summer Berry Fair this Sunday
The Summer Berry Fair opens in Chisinau on June 24. Starting at 10am, farmers from 12 districts of Moldova, including the left side of the Nistru, will put on sale their berries in the Park of the Metropolitan Cathedral in central Chisinau. At the first edition this year, the festival will feature raspberry and blackberry. The event is held in three editions, in each of the three summer months: on June 24, on July 22 and on August 12, in the same place, starting at 10 am. The farmers will come with almost 3.5 tonnes of berries that will be sold at personalized stalls showing the locality from where these were brought. More than 11 types of berries are cultivated in Moldova by over 700 local producers.
