ONLY 20% MOLDOVAN ENTREPRENEURS SAY CONDITIONS FOR DOING BUSINESS IMPROVED - WB OPINION POLL

Only each fifth businessman of Moldova said that the conditions of developing enterprises in Moldova improved. 57% said that nothing has changed, while 23% - that the situation worsened. These are the results of a research, conducted by World Bank experts.

Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure general state secretary Iulia Costin said at the Tuesday's research presentation that the provision of optimal conditions for entrepreneurship development, as well as for raising businesses' trust in the authorities is one of Government's priorities.

According to her, business climate in Moldova has a sustainable positive trend to improvement.

World Bank Country Manager for Moldova Anna Akhalkatsi said that the bank experts are conducting this research each year for already 10 years. it represents a poll, in which over 60 companies participated in 2017.

"It is important that the geography of companies, which participated in the poll, is very vast, they are not concentrated only in city centers. Moldova's future should be based on private sector, which generates jobs", she said.

According to her, many fields, mentioned in the research, need additional work, though this should not be perceived in negative light, but it should better be regarded as a call for action.

According to the research, the indicator of state intervention in business sphere remains at the level of 2016, when it was 7.9%, which demonstrates positive trend. By 2020, this rate should account for 7%, but this is possible only if the conducted and planned reforms will be implemented in practice.

Experts say that despite the reduction of state inspections, their length grew. Thus, in 2015, 3.8 inspections with aggregate length of a day accounted per one company, while in 2017 the number of inspections accounted for 2.9 per a company, but its length grew to 1.4 days. With all this, in 2016 there were two inspections per company and their lengths was on average 0.6 days, though this is conditioned by moratorium on state checks.

Only 9% (against 6% in 2016) of economic agents stated that they are content with the situation in the field of justice in Moldova, while 38% said that the law is applied selectively. 27% partially agree with both statements. Around 16% of economic agents maintain that inspections are directed to extortion, 12.4% - to providing of pressure on company leadership for changing the decision, while 11.4% - for punishing those disagreeable.

Around 34% addressed for help to state institutions, which is 11% less than in 2015. 46% addressed to courts (64% in 2016), also 30% resorted to unofficial ways of problem resolving, which is 3% more than in 2016.