● MONDAY, April 25
BCR aims to extend its presence in Moldovan
After the restructuring of its branches in Moldova, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) (“Romanian Commercial Bank”) intends to be more actively present on the Moldovan market both by extending its network of branches and by taking part in investment projects in different areas. BCR president Sergiu Manea made such statements in a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Octavian Calmac. Sergiu Manea stated that BCR is considering possibilities of extending its network of branches by increasing the number of local offices in Chisinau and Balti and by opening new branches in Cahul. Among the Bank’s priorities are to improve the services for clients and to implement modern service provision platforms. The BCR is ready to make investments by taking part in investment projects in different sectors of the national economy, including agriculture, energy and infrastructure.
● TUESDAY, April 26
SMEs can get financial support from UNDP
Chisinau (IPN)
The small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Moldova can benefit from direct financial support from the UNDP-funded Innovative Business Development for Local Sustainable Economic Growth Project. Thus, the United Nations Development Project invites the SMEs to apply again for financing online, on www.inobiz.md. According to a press release of the Ministry of Economy, the SMEs can submit their innovative project proposals concerning products, services or business processes that are to be significantly improved by applying innovative solutions. The criteria for selecting innovative projects are: innovation degree; market potential; implementation team. There will also be analyzed the applicant’s financial capacity to mobilize the own resources inclusively for implementing the project.
● WEDNESDAY, April 27
Chisinau hosts Moldova ICT Summit 2016
Leaders from the information technology industry, authorities, representatives of the academic community, development partners, investors, experts from the country and abroad will consider possibilities of developing the ICT sector in Moldova in the two-day Moldova ICT Summit 2016. Within the event, there will be presented new ICT products and services. Specialists from Moldova will be able to find out modern practices in the field and methods of inversing in IT entrepreneurship. In the opening of the summit, Minister of Information and Communication Technology Vasile Botnari said the development of the ICT sector is a priority for the Republic of Moldova and the country has real growth potential in this sector. Among the results achieved in this sector are the creation of the common emergency telephone number 112 and of the Center of Excellence in IT.
Moldova and Romania to cooperate in agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry of Moldova and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania signed a plan of action on Moldovan-Romanian cooperation in the field of agriculture. The document materializes the bilateral agreement signed on August 31, 1999 between Romania and the Republic of Moldova and aims to strengthen the relations in agriculture between the two states. The document was signed by Minister of Agriculture Eduard Grama and his Romanian counterpart Achim Irimescu during the first’s working visit to Bucharest on April 25-26. The sides pledged to create a joint working group for agriculture, food industry and rural development that will meet regularly in Moldova and in Romania. This will analyze the progress made in the cooperation between the sides and will identify new areas and activities of bilateral cooperation.
New powers for ICT regulator
The National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) has new powers now that the Law on Access to Property and Shared Use of Infrastructure Associated with Public Electronic Communications Networks took effect. This enables it to ensure the observance of the law by owners and suppliers of public electronic communications networks and/or services for obtaining access to property and the right to use public electronic communications networks and associated facilities. To fulfill this task, the Agency worked out a plan of action that describes the regulatory actions and measures planned to be taken in 2016 for implementing the law. The ANRCETI will also work out a set of documents needed for implementing this law, including the standard contract for access to public or private property for building (installing), maintaining, replacing or transferring public electronic communications networks or infrastructure elements needed for supporting them.
BCR Chisinau aims to extend its client portfolio this year
In 2016 BCR Chisinau aims to extend its client portfolio and to strengthen its presence on the market. It will also suggest personalized solutions for supporting the companies with viable businesses and sustainable projects. The bank’s administration aims to also consolidate the network of branches. The recent general assembly of shareholders of Banca Comerciala Romana Chisinau S.A. (Romanian Commercial Bank Chisinau) adopted a series of strategic decisions that will have an impact on the bank’s direction and activity in 2016. “BCR Chisinau SA finished 2015 with a net profit of 26.4 million lei as a result of the rise in operational incomes and maintenance of an expenditure monitoring policy. The expense to income ratio improved to 59%, as opposed to 69% in 2014,” said the executive president of BCR Chisinau Juan Luis Martin Ortigosa.
● THURSDAY, April 28
More chances for attracting large investment projects to Moldova
The Cabinet instituted the Council for the Promotion of Investment Projects of National Importance by a decision on April 27. Prime Minister Pavel Filip was designated as chairman of the Council, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Octavian Calmac as deputy chairman, while the director of the Moldova Investment Attraction and Export Promotion Organization (MIEPO) Dona Scola as secretary. Among the Council members are the ministers of finance, justice, interior, agriculture and food industry, transport and road infrastructure, and of regional development and the heads of the State Tax Service, the Customs Service, the Cadaster Agency and the Migration and Asylum Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior. The Council’s task is to make sure the strategic investment projects are implemented as planned.
Temporary measures to protect domestic market
Customs duties will be imposed on the import of milk and milk products, meat and cement from Ukraine until the nd of this year. Moldova also set import quotas on these products within the free trade regime with the CIS states.
The move is aimed at protecting the home market from massive imports of dairy products from Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Economy, the volume of milk products imported from Ukraine last year rose considerably. Thus, the imports of sour cream, yogurt and kefir increased 1.5 times, of cheese – by 33%, while of sausages and similar products 14 times. The customs duties on milk and milk products, meat and cement imported from Ukraine will be of 10-15%.
Expenditure on defense decreased suddenly after 2009, study
The financing of the defense sector during the last few years wasn’t a priority on the national development agenda. After 2009, the sums allocated to this sector decreased suddenly, shows a study of the expenditure on defense in 2000-2014 carried out by the think tank “Expert-Grup”. According to the experts, this tendency continued until 2014, when the security situation in the region worsened unexpectedly. Consequently, in 2015 Moldova ranked last in Central and Eastern Europe by the share of spending on defense in the Gross Domestic Product. The study shows that amid the current budget constraints, the funds allocated for building the national defense are not used in the optimal way. During the last decade, the reformation of the national defense sector wasn’t completed and the strategic programing documents for planning the national defense for a long period of time weren’t finished either. As a result, the structure of the National Army remained outdated and wasn’t adjusted to the new security realities and financial constraints.
Foreign experts recommend how to develop IT entrepreneurship
Foreign experts recommend the Moldovan authorities to promote entrepreneurship in the area of information technology. The authorities must also promote programs to develop this area by creating incubators for stimulating durable startups and promoting entrepreneurial education from an early age. The recommendations were made in the Moldova ICT Summit 2016 that is held in Chisinau. The experts also recommend the authorities to be ready for a more efficient dialogue with this community and to create information points for startups. The registration and administration of businesses must be simplified with more favorable taxes and regulations and with services and consultancy for foreign entrepreneurs. According to the foreign experts, the access to financing and mentors who will share their experience and knowledge must be facilitated. Own capital must be secured by crowdfunding. Regulations to encourage foreign entrepreneurs to start businesses in Moldova are needed.
Public procurement system will be essentially reformed
The public procurement reform will be stepped up, stimulated also by the new legislative provisions. Such assurances were formulated in a conference on the issue staged by the Ministry of Finance and the EBRD on April 28. Minister of Finance Octavian Armasu said that the new Law on Public Procurement takes effect on May 1. “This would be as starting point for a number of reforms we aim to do. These are necessary because the current government procurement system is not trusted by business entities. There are signals and complains about the unfair treatment of the participants in tender contests to do work and provide services with public money. They cannot defend their rights. The system incorporates group interests and conflicts, generating corruption,” he stated. The minister noted that to make the public procurement system work for the benefit of the state, the national public budget, the donors and the people, transparency should be insured in the procurement process and all the business entities and the people should be informed how much money was spent and on what. Economies of scale will be implemented, when the acquisitions are made for a number of institutions, when large quantities are bought at lower prices.
National Bank of Moldova reduces annual base rate to 15%
The Executive Board of the National Bank of Moldova on April 28 reduced the base rate on the main short-term monetary policy operations from 17% to 15% a year. The annual interest rates on overnight loans will be decreased from 20%, to 18% while on overnight deposits – from 14% to 12%. The Executive Board also decided to maintain the required reserves ratio from financial means attracted in freely convertible currency at the level of 14% of the base, while the reserves ratio from means attracted in Moldovan lei and non-convertible currency – at the level of 35% of the base. The analysis of the recent macroeconomic indicators shows that the annual rate of inflation continues to decrease even if it remains above the upper limit of the variation interval of ± 1.5 percentage points of the inflation target of 5%. The annual rate of inflation in March 2016 was 9.4%, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points on a month before.
● FRIDAY, April 29
Two colleges of Agriculture Ministry to be reorganized into centers of excellence
The Chisinau-based National College of Winegrowing and Winemaking and the Public Institution “Taul Agricultural College” will be reorganized into centers of excellence. The two colleges are managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. The Ministry said the Center of Excellence in Winemaking and Winegrowing of Chisinau will be created based on the National College of Winegrowing and Winemaking, which is the oldest education institution in wine industry of Moldova and which in 2017 will celebrate the 175th anniversary of its foundation. The College was and is a real ‘forge shop’ of staff in wine industry, which is strategically located in the immediate vicinity of Chisinau municipality. This will help Moldova develop its tourism potential.
Six more companies to benefit from Polish loan
Six more Moldovan companies will obtain financing from the assistance loan provided by the Government of Poland. Companies’ applications for financing will be approved by the Supervisory Board of the Loan Implementation Unit. The companies will benefit from about €9.4 million overall. According to a press release of the Ministry of Economy,”Sunworld” wil get over €4.1 million for building a vegetable drying factory, “Proterm Grup” – €1.9 million for constructing a hydroponic greenhouse, while “Moldova Zahar” – over €1.1 million for modernizing the juice filtering station.
World Bank offers Moldova US$80m for improving local roads
The Republic of Moldova and the World Bank signed a financing agreement for implementing the Local Roads Improvement Project in Moldova. The goal of the project is to ensure the accessibility of education institutions and health facilities by safe and sustainable road infrastructure. The selected local roads are about 300 km in length. The term of the agreement is 15 years. Based on the financing agreement, the World Bank will offer Moldova a loan of about US$80 000 000.
Minimum guaranteed salary in real sector up 10.7% from May 1
The minimum guaranteed salary in the real sector of the economy from May 1 will be 12.43 lei an hour or 2 100 lei a month. This is calculated for a full working program of 169 hours on average a month. The minimum guaranteed salary in the real sector is reexamined annually by the Cabinet depending on the annual change in the consumer price index and the labor productivity growth at national level. The consumer price index in 2015 was 109.7% on 2014, while the labor productivity growth was 101%.
Marius Lazurca: Bilateral trade is today three times larger than in 2010
Trade between Moldova and Romania is now three times larger than in 2010. This is due inclusively to the improvement of the political relations between the two states, Romania’s Ambassador in Chisinau Marius Lazurca said in the public discussion “Moldovan-Romanian relations: evolutions, expectations, quality measurements” . According to the diplomat, one of the explanations is related to the ban imposed by Russia on the import of Moldovan products, based on political criteria, in the context of the negotiation and signing by Moldova of the Association Agreement with the EU. “What the Russian market lost, the Romanian market gained. What hit the Moldovan exporters on the part of Russia, healed the Romanian market,” stated Marius Lazurca.