Moldovan economics ministry forecasts gross domestic product growth for 2017

Chisinau, 20 December /MOLDPRES/ – The Economy Ministry /ME/ forecasts a three per cent growth of gross domestic product /GDP/ for 2017. About this informed today Octavian Calmic, Deputy Prime Minister, Economy Minister, at a press conference, with a presentation of ME’s work in 2016.

The deputy prime minister said that economic developments in the first nine months of this year were positive, and GDP rose by 3.3% / comparable prices / and 98.3 billion lei. The main sources contributing to this increase were: agriculture, wholesale and retail, mining and manufacturing etc.

Among the main achievements of 2016, Octavian Calmic listed: Agreement approval by International Monetary Fund (IMF) with Moldova on 7 November 2016 worth 178.7 million dollars, achieving commitments under the Association Agreement, recovery and expansion of export quotas to EU market, ratification of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation in WTO, start negotiations on Free Trade Agreements between Moldova and Egypt and between Moldova and China etc.  

In the context of approval of National Strategy for attracting investment and promoting exports for 2016 – 2020, Deputy Prime Minister stressed the positive results of Free Economic Zones (FEZs) activity sites, where investment volume is 14.2 million dollars, while the volume of net sales increased by 4.2 per cent. Also during this year, were created 2 new industrial parks – Cahul and Straseni, which will come investments of over 40 million euros and are to be created about 2,400 new jobs, Octavian Calmic said.

(Reporter A. Mardare, editor A. Raileanu)