Moldova has been independent since 1991, however, economic reforms are still progressing very slowly. Accordingly, the forecasts for 1999 are more than disillusioning: the GNP is expected to go down by 5 percent – after a decrease of 8.6 percent last year and a meagre growth of 1.3 percent in 1997. This year, Moldova is expecting the worst growth rate of all the 25 Central and Eastern European states (with the exception of Russia).
James Parks, the World Bank representative in Moldova, announced that the country will receive USD 183 million of economic aid in the course of the next 2 1/2 years.
In this context, the strategy of the World Bank relies on three focal issues: sustainable macro-economic development, development of the private sector and a reform of the public sector. The overall objective is to reduce poverty in Moldova.
The crucial point is agriculture
Due to the climate and the existing chernozem soils, the Republic basically has a rich agriculture. Wine, fruit, sugar beet, wheat , tobacco, vegetables and feed crops are being cultivated. However, separation from the Soviet Union has led to a lack of feeds and to sales problems and consequently to severe losses in production and agriculture.
The industry is producing various long-lived consumer goods (electrical and electronic appliances, furniture, carpets, clothes and shoes) and agricultural machines and processes agricultural products. Energy, crude oil, natural gas and coal have to be imported.
Supply potentials for domestic companies
The most important suppliers of Moldova are the GUS countries, Rumania, Germany, the USA, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria and China. For Austrian companies, potentials do exist in the field of upgrading agriculture and the food industry, for infrastructure projects financed by international financial institutions, in the building and the building supplying sector, as well as in simple commercial business.
The precarious financial situation of the country and of the Moldovan businesses operating there, however, suggests a thorough selection of potential customers. A good opportunity for a safe financial access to the market are the TACIS projects financed by the EU.
A major problem of Moldova is slow progress in the field of denationalisation. Due to the independence achieved only recently and the change from centralised economy to market economy, hardly any aspects of commercial law have been settled. And experience with the enforcement is negligible.
Since this April foreign private and legal persons have been allowed to own land, only agricultural land and forests are still reserved for Moldovan buyers. Energy, telecommunication and the tobacco industry are definitely going to be privatised.
River navigation becoming more important
One promising sector in Moldova is river transport. The most important waterway of the country is the River Dnjestr (freezes in winter, navigable for about 250 days of the year up to Galitscha), the second waterway is the Prut River (navigable for 240 days per year, since 1966 Hovercrafts have been used on the river).
The importance of river transport has grown due to the construction of the water complex Kosteschty-Stynka on the Prut and the reconstruction of Warnica, the largest river port on the Dnejstr, and also the transport of goods from the Black Sea ports to the cities and villages of Pridnjestrowje. The construction of a Danube port (Giurgiulesti) has already been begun. (Source: aqua press Int. 06/99)
Manuela Prusa
