Moldovan PM participates in meeting of Foreign Investors Association

Chisinau, 13 May /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Ion Chicu today participated in a meeting of the Foreign Investors Association from Moldova, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.  

The meeting’s goal was to exchange opinions on the evolution of the epidemiological situation, effects of the restrictive measures on the economy and economic agents and the solutions of stimulating economic activities.   

Ion Chicu thanked the Association’s leadership for the initiative to have this dialogue and noted that the experience and opinion of investors were absolutely necessary for the cabinet’s planning process. The government is oriented towards maintaining a cautious balance in the process of getting out of the quarantine. Too much carelessness on behalf of people can trigger the appearance of a wave of infections and lead to the suffocation of the health system. Too much prudence on behalf of the authorities might lead to a social and economic collapse.   

The head of the Association, Alexander Koss, appreciated the way the authorities were managing the epidemiological situation and the openness in the dialogue with the business environment.

The participants in the meeting approached problems in the HoReCa sector and the retail trade, digitalization of the economy, including of the public services, access to financial resources, in the conditions of the global economic crisis and decrease in consumption, resumption of the work of the commercial centres, situation in the automotive industry, etc.

The sides discussed the present economic parameters and pointed out the cut in revenues in the public budget and the budget deficit. The IMF’s initial forecasts showed a contraction of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by about three per cent against 2019. Meanwhile, the estimations made by the German Economic Team show an about 6.3-per cent contraction of GDP against 2019.   

The uncertainty in the evolution of the epidemiological situation has direct repercussions on the intensity of the economic activities and on consumption.  

The prime minister informed about the intention to resume the work of the companies from the HoReCa sector as of 1 June 2020, if the evolution of the epidemiological situation is maintained in the current parameters and HoReCa benefits from the instrument of subsidizing the interests on loans. The participants in the meeting also tackled the subject on changing the regulations, in order to allow the work of the fuel supply stations in self-service regime, without operators’ involvement.