● MONDAY, February 1
Octavian Armasu: We have money only for paying pensions and salaries
Minister of Finance Octavian Armasu assures that the pensions and salaries will be paid and the pensions in April will be indexed. He developed the issue in the talk show “Reply” on Prime TV channel. “Now we concentrate our efforts on paying salaries and pensions to budget-funded employees. We will purchase no pen for budget-funded institutions. We will make effort to index the pensions in April, in accordance with the law,” stated Armasu. The minister noted that they count a lot on the first tranche of the loan promised by the Government of Romania and hope that the Government of Moldova will fulfill the conditions imposed by the Romanian authorities in the immediate future. “The loan will be used to cover the short-term costs, for pensions and salaries. Even if the IMF mission comes to Chisinau, it will not sign a financing contract with us immediately. It will be a diagnostic mission,” said Armasu.
IMF mission to arrive in Chisinau soon
A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to arrive in Chisinau in the first half of February. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Octavian Calmac has told that he received a preliminary answer from the IMF, which initiated the internal procedures for coordinating the period of the visit. According to the minister, this will be a visit aimed at monitoring the macroeconomic situation and the state budget, including the financial-budgetary and policy instruments and the banking system. “These are the key elements on which the Moldovan side and the representatives of the IMF will pronounce,” said Octavian Calmac.
Gas tariffs should have been decreased more, energy experts
The gas tariffs should have been cut by about 16% following the revision by the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER), not by only 10.9% as it was decided, a group of energy experts said in a news conference . The experts accused the Agency of not ensuring transparency in the revision process and of serving political interests. Sergiu Tofilat said the NAER adopted the tariff reduction decision in a meeting held behind closed doors, invoking the urgency of the matter. But the legislation provides that the exceptional meetings are held in emergencies that are set by the competent bodies, not the Agency. Experts’ calculations show the tariffs should have been decreased more and they will thus ask that the Agency’s administration should hold public consultations on the matter. They will also notify the Prosecutor General’s Office of the actions of the NAER’s Board of Directors and will ask Parliament to hold hearings on the setting of gas tariffs.
Old prices of season tickets for trips by trolleybus restored
The prices of season tickets for travelling by trolleybuses, intended for private individuals, will return to the previous level on February 2. Contacted by IPN, director of the Chisinau Electric Transport Company Gheorghe Morgoci said the private individuals who purchased season tickets at higher prices will get a refund. The travelers who purchased season tickets at the new prices will submit an application to the Electric Transport Company and will be able to get back the difference in the price after its examination. Gheorghe Morgoci said there is no deadline for filling such an application.
Tax concessions for IT companies likely to be extended until 2021
The tax concessions for IT companies will be extended for a five-year period, until 2021. Now the companies that analyze, design and program information systems and prepare for utilization and produce software by order of beneficiaries are offered particular tax concessions. These include the maintaining of the fixed social insurance contributions paid by the employer at the level of two average salaries projected for each year and payment of an income tax rate of 12%, as the companies from the whole economy pay. The Ministry said that when using these concessions and fully exempting the IT companies from paying the income tax in 2005-2011, the IT exports rose from US$4 million to US$71 million. In the period, a number of international IT companies entered the Moldovan market, such as Cedacri (Italy), Tehnosoft (the Netherlands) and Gilat (Israel), which employ local specialists and pay competitive salaries, contributing to the development of the local IT market.
Moldova and Russia ready to reestablish economic cooperation relations
The Republic of Moldova expressed its readiness to organize the meeting of the Moldovan-Russian intergovernmental commission for commercial-economic cooperation in the first half of the year. The managers of the departments for international economic cooperation of the Ministries of Economy of Moldova and Russia held a common meeting. The Ministry of Economy of Moldova said the Moldovan side is ready to stage a bilateral meeting between the commission’s co-chairmen this March. The sides also discussed issues from the bilateral agenda, such as the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers from trade, creation of an Exhibitions and Trade Center “Moldova” in Moscow, aspects of the cooperation in railway transport, as regards transportation of passengers between Moldova and Russia, etc.
● TUESDAY, February 2
Consumers face penalties if they do not take sales slip
The consumers could be penalized if they do not take the receipt after shopping or when paying for particular services. The receipt must be kept until the person leaves the commercial unit or service delivery unit that issued it and can present it at the request of the inspection body. Under the bill to amend and supplement a number of legal acts concerning the fiscal, budgetary and customs policy for 2016, the fine is 60 lei. As it was repeatedly noted by the competent public authorities and civil society organizations, a purchase in the absence of the sales slip means passive dispossession of the budget of money that can increase the amount of collected taxes and tacit contribution to tax evasion.
Competition Council has instruments needed to step up work
The promotion of competition culture is a very important objective for the Competition Council, Diana Enachi, expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul,”, said in a debate entitled “Policies on competition and sectors where disloyal competition disrupts efficient functioning of market economy”.“But this should be an objective not only of the Competition Council, but also of other public institutions and of civil society. Forces should be combined in this regard,” said the expert. According to Diana Enachi, a society that knows how the mechanisms that ensure loyal competition on the market work and its benefits for the consumers can require more energetic and coherent measures of the Competition Council so that the competition legislation on the Moldovan market is obeyed.
● WEDNESDAY, February 3
Vitalie Rapcea: We will demand that vehicle owners should pay tax into Road Fund
The Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure will insist that the vehicle owners should continue to pay the taxes into the Road Fund, not into the local budgets as the new draft budgetary-fiscal policy provides, Deputy Minister Vitalie Rapcea said in the talk show “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1. “They want to change the destination of taxes. I know that 80% of these taxes will reach the City Halls of the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti. The other mayor’s offices will not be able to collect sufficient means for repairing at least 1 km of road. The money for road repair and building should be redistributed proportionally, according to needs. The method of distributing the Road Fund money provides for this,” stated the official.
MPs looking for solutions to protect domestic market from massive imports from Ukraine
The lawmakers are considering possibilities of protecting the home market from massive imports of products of animal origin from Ukraine. In a meeting on February 3, members of the Parliament’s commission on agriculture and food industry examined the situation on the domestic market of products of animal origin. It was noted that a series of products of animal origin, mainly dairy and meat products, could be excluded from the free trade with the CIS states, especially Ukraine. Border control will be stepped up so as to prevent smuggling. Measures will also be taken to reduce the volume of animal products that a person can bring freely into Moldova. The measures will start to be applied after the responsible authorities of Moldova have discussions with the Ukrainian authorities to explain their necessity.
Budget deficit in 2016 projected to exceed 4bn lei
The budget deficit this year could represent 3.2% of the Gross Domestic Product. According to Minister of Finance Octavian Armasu, this is over 4 billion lei. The Ministry plans to cover the deficit with external financing and with earnings from privatization. “We received new macroeconomic indicators that will used to form the budget and in the discussions with foreign backers. We are now finishing the calculations and are trying to adjust the budget to the real economic conditions,” stated Octavian Armasu. According to the minister, the current costs of 2.4 billion lei were almost fully covered in January. “At the end of January, we had a positive balance of 800 million lei. This money will be used to cover the main budget costs at the start of February. Our estimates show that if we reduce the costs to the strict necessities, we will be able to cope until the external financing is unblocked,” said Octavian Armasu.
Best national products and services displayed at “Made in Moldova” exhibit
About 300 economic entities presented their products and services at the 15th exhibition “Made in Moldova” that was opened at the Chisinau-based Exhibitions Center “Moldexpo” on February 3. The residents and guests of the capital city will be able to visit the exhibit and purchase products by February 7 inclusive. Attending the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Pavel Filip welcomed the large number of companies present at the exhibitions, saying the improvement of the conditions for doing business in Moldova is among the new Government’s priorities. He spoke about the institution of a six-month moratorium on inspections carried out at economic entities, noting that a bill to this effect is to be approved in the February 3 meeting of the Cabinet.
Import duties reduced in Transnistria
The average import duty for all the categories of goods in Transnistria in 2015 was by over 18% lower than in 2012. The data were published by the so-called customs committee of the region. This said that the number of goods imported duty free rose by 41%. The Transnistrian press reported that the value of goods imported duty free last year was two times higher than in the previous periods. The Transnistrian administration said the system of tariff preferences on the import of goods used by enterprises to make own goods continued to develop in the period. These goods represented over 60% of the imports in 2015.
● THURSDAY, February 4
Alexandru Slusari: By moratorium on inspections, tax evasion is legalized
The moratorium on carrying out inspections at economic entities, which was endorsed by the Cabinet on February 3, will encourage tax evasion, chairman of the National Agricultural Producers Association “UniAgroProtect” Alexandru Slusari said in the program “Place for dialogue” on Radio Moldova stations. “By this moratorium, tax evasion will be legalized and perpetuated,” he stated. The head of “UniAgroProtect” considers the changes stipulated in the budgetary-fiscal policy for 2016 are necessary, though they are insignificant. “Changes are needed so as to stimulate the economic entities, but these should be instituted in normal conditions, not in the current ones. Anyway, the envisioned changes are rather cosmetic. Essential changes are planned only on two segments – rise in land tax and payment of taxes for vehicles into local budgets. Anyway, in the current situation, the modifications proposed by the Ministry of Finance seem logical to me,” stated Alexandru Slusari.
Number of requisitions to ICT regulator up 30%
The number of requisitions submitted to the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology last year was by 30% higher than a year before. There were recorded 210 applications. The number of requests for information in 2015 rose by 22% to 252. The data are contained in the Agency’s report on requisitions examined in 2015. According to the report, the number of complains about the violation of contract clauses, interconnection agreements and normative documents increased significantly on 2014. The people also complained about the invoicing of services, accuracy of data indicated in bills and the quality of services. At the same time, the number of complains about illegal disconnections from the network and abusive actions in the process of porting mobile numbers decreased.
Central bank revises down average annual inflation rate for next two years
The National Bank of Moldova forecast an average annual rate of inflation of 10.1% for 2016, by 1.8 percentage points lower than the rate forecast last November. For 2017, the inflation was projected at 6.6%. National Bank governor Dorin Dragutanu told a news conference that the rate of inflation was revised down due to the diminution of prices, especially the food ones. This diminution will be felt more by consumers towards this yearend and next year. The move also follows the lower pressure exerted by the regulated prices of energy resources as a result of the 40% decrease in the prices of oil products against last November.
20% of DCFTA provisions implemented so far
Some 20% of the provisions of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) between Moldova and the European Union have been implemented until now, said Inga Ionesii, head of the Economy Ministry’s General Economic Cooperation Division. According to the official, the implementation period of the DCFTA coincided with a more difficult regional situation and the process was thus affected. “The implementation of the Association Agreement and the DCFTA coincided with a difficult period. The relations between the EU and Russia, the crisis in Ukraine, last summer’s drought and other events affected the implementation process,” stated Inga Ionesii. She noted that the formation of a functional government in over 200 days hampered the implementation of a number of projects.
Dorin Dragutanu: Situation in banking system is stable
The bank lending activity in 2015 slowed down and the value of new loans provided in Moldovan lei decreased by 35% compared with a year ago, the governor of the National Bank Dorin Dragutanu said in a news conference on February 4. He noted that the situation in the banking sector is stable. The average interest rate on loans in national currency in the fourth quarter of 2015 was 15.7%. The governor said that the economic entities do not take out loans not because the interest rates are high. “The companies think how to repay the loans in a period of economic recession, when exports, imports and remittances decreased and the economic activity shrunk significantly. On the other hand, the banks also started to meditate more on the issue. They now more attentively analyze the creditworthiness of the applicant entrepreneurs,” stated Dorin Dragutanu.
● FRIDAY, February 5
Extension of Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline is decisive for energy independence, study
The extension of the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline to Chisinau, where 50-60% of the gas imported into Moldova is consumed, will represent a decisive step towards ensuring the country’s energy independence and substantially diminishing the dependence on Gazprom and the Russian Federation. The extension project is yet threatened by the political instability, the slow pace of reforms in the energy sector and the debts to the Russian supplier. The conclusions are contained in a study carried out by the independent think tank “Expert-Grup” and “Expert-Forum” of Romania with financial support from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bucharest. According to the authors of the study, the Moldovan authorities’ interest in diversifying the natural gas supply sources increased in 2010-2013 after Moldova joined the European Energy Community. Namely this favored the opening of the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline in August 2014, as a result of an investment of €26.5 million, where about 80% of the costs were covered by the Romanian side and the EU. Though the real transportation capacity of the gas pipeline is 1.5 billion cubic meters a year, which is enough for satisfying the consumption needs of Moldova, the volume exported from Romania through this pipe in 2015 represented only 1 million cubic meters or about 1% of the total consumption in Moldova, without the eastern districts of the country.
Energy resources must be cheaper, expert
The natural gas tariffs should be by 16% cheaper, energy expert Sergiu Tofilat said in the talk show “Place for dialogue” on Radio Moldova station. “We did our own calculations. The 10% decrease in the natural gas tariffs is not relevant,” stated Tofilat. The expert said the electricity tariffs will also have to be reviewed after the imports of electric power from Ukraine are resumed. “I saw that the electric power there is by 25% cheaper than that we purchase now from the Cuchurgan Power Plant. Thus, the tariffs for end-users on the power purchased from Ukraine should be reduced,” noted Tofilat.
RISE Moldova: Transnistrian customs officers distorted meaning of investigation about ghost orchards
The so-called customs committee of the unrecognized republic of Transnistria commented on a journalistic investigation by RISE Moldova about the provision of certificates for the export of fruit from inexistent orchards by phytosanitary inspectors from Chisinau to Transnistrian companies. It described the investigation as ‘deliberate misinformation with the aim of spoiling the image of Transnistria and its customs service and of creating an atmosphere of distrust in the Russian-Transnistrian relations’. For their part, the journalists of RISE Moldova describe the reaction of the Transnistrian customs administration as ‘distortion of the meaning of the journalistic investigation’. In a statement published on its website, the customs authority says that it carried out an investigation following the information disseminated by the Moldovan electronic media and reached the conclusion that the export of fruit in the volumes indicated by the Moldovan sources didn’t take place. “The companies Alvi Grupp SRL and Dufrimol SRL didn’t export fruit from the territory of Transnistria to Russia,” it is said in the statement of the Transnistrian customs committee.
Winegrowers and winemakers can purchase equipment in installments
The winegrowers and winemakers will be able to purchase the equipment they need in installments within a news component of the Wine Sector Restructuring Program that was launched on February 5. The financing is provided in more advantageous conditions than in the case of a classical loan because the applicants do not need pledge and the financing conditions are favorable. The Program’s executive director Iurie Brumarel told a news conference that €10 million will be allocated for this component. The minimum financing sum will be €25,000, while the money will be disbursed through ProCreditBank, Mobiasbanca, Comertbank and Energbank. The list of banks could be extended, especially with institutions with experience in lending to agricultural economic entities.
Initiative to create private investment fund in Moldova
The Black Sea University Foundation has launched an initiative to create the Moldova Fund to support the Romanian companies that want to invest in Moldova, offering them a king of protection from political risks. The conception of the Moldova Fund represents an instrument for expressing Romania’s support for fundamental and irreversible changes in the Republic of Moldova and for reducing the discrepancies between the two banks of Prut. The program “Moldova Fund – Marshall Plan of Romania for the Republic of Moldova” was presented in Chisinau on February 5. The Moldova Fund was designed as a private and open investment fund that excludes political interference and is intended for private financing needs. Dan Dungaciu, director of the Romanian Academy’s Institute of Political Science and International Relations “Ion I.C. Bratianu”, said the initiative was put forward to offset the lack of imagination in the bilateral relations. Nobody knows how to provide Moldova with the assistance it needs when its government is challenged and doubted not only in Romania, but also in many European capitals. “The Moldova Fund will focus on strategic objectives, profit and business,” said the Institute’s director.
● SATURDAY, February 6
Vasile Bumacov: Attraction of Japanese investments must be a priority
The Republic of Moldova obtained US$92 million grants and more than US$100 million loans in very advantageous conditions from Japan. Moldova is a small, but very polluting country. That’s why Japan provided assistance in biomass production, modernization of agriculture and other areas, Moldova’s new Ambassador in Tokyo Vasile Bumacov said in an interview for Radio Free Europe. The diplomat stated that Japan is looking for countries with which it could cooperate so as to bring increased benefit to the planet and to be proud of this. Therefore, the attraction of Japanese investments must be a priority.
Moldovan producers to take part in “Prodexpo-2016” exhibit in Moscow
Two Moldovan agrifood producers will take part in the International Food Exhibition “Prodexpo-2016” that opens in Moscow on February 8. The participation in the exhibit by the natural juice and nectar producers SA “Alfa-Nistru” and SA “Natur Bravo” was organized by “Axar” SRL. “The producers decided to take part in the exhibition in order to promote the image of the products of a high quality and to establish new business contacts and maintain the existent ones with partners in Russia and other countries,” it is said in a press release of “Axar” SRL.
Exemption from VAT only on public utilities
The private individuals will benefit from exemption from VAT on public utilities provided to the dwelling, regardless of its owner, quoting the draft fiscal, budgetary and customs policy document that was proposed for public debates. The dwelling represents a construction or isolated structure consisting of one or several rooms and auxiliary rooms (kitchen, bathroom), which houses one or more persons (family). The private homes, apartments and residential areas in dorms are considered dwellings.
Pharmaceutical companies complain about nontransparent tender contests
The losses sustained as a result of the fluctuations in exchange rates, nontransparent tender contests and high costs incurred when registering drugs are only some of the problems faced by pharmaceutical companies. Representatives of the largest importers of medicines, pharmaceutical storehouses and drugstores of the country spoke about the most serious difficulties they faced in a meeting with Prime Minister Pavel Filip. According to them, the excessive number of authorizations and certificates they need to work is another problem, as is the non-ensuring of transparency in tender contests by the health facilities.
