Menù Moldavia.

Moldavia 

General Information

Area
33.700 square kilometers

Capital
Chisinau (752.000 citizens)

Population
estimation in 2002: 3.600.000 inhabitants.

Language

The official language is the Moldavian, a Romania dialect that between 1941 and 1989 was written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The Russian is wide-spread. 

Currency

In November 1993, the Leu it was introduced in substitution of the old currency, the Ban, for a value of 1 Leu = 100 Bans. In the 2^nd of January 2003, the Leu/US dollar exchange course is of 13.8 lei for 1US$, the Leu/Euro one is of 14.4154 Leus for 1 Euro.

Main economical indicators

Future perspectives

Spite the fragility of the global economy and the slowness of the reforming process in Moldavia, that should be confirmed in the 2003-2004 biennium too, the recuperation of the growth registered between 2001 and 2002, the good performance of the industrial sector, the growth of the exportations and of the internal demand should ensure for the biennium in subject, too, a GIP’s growth of 4-5%. Spite this, the Moldavian economy remains extremely fragile, continuing to suffer of foreign investment deficiency and of excessive dependency on the agricultural and food sector that could be subjected to fluctuations determined by climacterically factors, disadvantaging the country’s possibilities of economical growth. 

Without a consistent increase of the investments and a larger liberation of the economy – both improbable due to the Moldavian Communist Party in charge – the agricultural sector could diverse itself, with great difficulty, in productions to the highest level or search for new more convenient and secure markets outside CSI. Furthermore, the tentative, from the most rigid wing of MCP, to increment politics that reaffirm the State’s role in the agriculture, could put in danger the economical growth that is predicted at the moment. For what the inflation concerns, it is predicted a slight rise in 2003, connected to a light weakening of the currency. Regarding the foreign exchange, the prices, favorable to importations and exportations, should sustain the Moldavian trade, preventing an excessive increase of the commercial balance deficit, that should though reach very high values in the 2003-2004 biennial, values equivalent of about 20% of the annual GIP.

Productive sectors

Before the independence, the Moldavian economy was strictly connected to that of Soviet Union and specialized in the agricultural sector, since Moldavia represented the main regional source for fruits and vegetables in the USSR. The agricultural one remains still the dominant economical sector of the country: in 2000 (the last available information) has made with the fishing the 28% of GIP.  The Industrial sector was, instead, heavily hit by the secession of Transdniestr, which is the headquarters of the regional heavy industry, and its contribute to GIP has gone down from almost 40% in 1993 to 20% in 2000. Accordingly to a study of the World Bank, the private sector covers by now about 60% of the economy, contributing with 67% from the total production. In the services area, this percentage jumps up to 80%. In Moldavia, The small and medium companies were already privatized in the first following years after the independence, through a program of mass privatization. For what the actual conjuncture concerns, after a big delay, the government accepted the privatization, requested by FMI,  for the wine and tobacco sectors. The biggest success in privatization was the selling, in 2000, of three companies for the distribution of electricity to a group from Spain, the Union Fenosa. The energy privatization has had a crucial importance in Moldavia, due to the country’s dependence on the sector’s importations and the relative external debt that threatens to reach unsustainable levels. In the present, the government’s attitude regarding the privatization remains nevertheless contradictory. Even contrasted in the precedent years for ideological reasons, the MCP has yet had to legislate in favor of the wine and tobacco producing companies’ selling, due to the necessity of financial incomes and major investments in the country. The western investors interests remain, spite this, minimum, contrasted moreover by the MCP that has recently undertake a program for a new State-ownership of some insolvent privatized companies or that did not have honored the predicted investment programs.

Trade exchange

(*) the information regards the January-December 2002 period

Traveling Informations

International prefixes:
00 373, prefix for the Country; 2 Chisinau; 32 Benderi

The hour:
2 hours in advance regarding the Greenwich Meridian (3 hours in Transdniestr); 1 hour in advance regarding Italy

Visa approval:
for entering the country it is requested a valid passport. The visa could be obtained by presentation, at the Moldavian Embassy or Consulate, of the passport accompanied by a letter of hotel accommodation confirmation, in case of a tourist  travel, and by a letter of the receiving party, in case of a business trip.

Working week:

POSTAL OFFICES: from Monday till Sunday from 9 to 20

Credit cards:

The Credit Cards and Traveler’s checks are accepted only bu a few banks.

The main festivities:

1^st of January;

7^th - 8^th of January (The Orthodox Christmas)

8^th of March (the international women’s day)

Eastern (variable);

Angel’s Monday (variable);

1^st of May (the work’s day)

9^th of May (day of commemoration and victory)

27^th of August (Independence Day)

31^st of August (national language day)

Main useful addresses

Embassies and Consulates in Italy

Moldavian Embassy

Ambassador VALENTIN CIUMAC (07/02/96)

Via Montebello 8, Roma

Tel. (06) 47 82 44 00 Fax (06) 47881092

Embassies and Consulates abroad

Budapest – Italian Embassy 

There is no Italian Embassy in the country

Stefania Ut. 95 - 1143 Budapest

Tel. 00361 3646064/5/6/7 - Fax 3846058

ambit@ambitalia.hu

http://www.ambitalia.hu/

Moldavia is of competence of ICE from Kiev (Ukraine)