AMCHAM MOLDOVA: CRISIS CAUSED BY COVID-19 MAKES MOLDOVAN BUSINESS MATURE

Adrian Gheorghita, deputy director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova (AmCham Moldova), believes that during the COVID-19 pandemic, some RM companies managed to turn their shortcomings into advantages.

In an interview with Infotag, he said that most companies are currently exploring the possibility of entering the online market, creating new directions for their business or identifying new export partners.

"Though it is too early to draw certain conclusions, we believe that companies have taken the issue of business digitization, as well as the introduction of non-cash payments more seriously. The crisis has forced Moldovan business environment to mature. In the post-crisis period, we hope for the "whitening" of Moldovan business," Gheorghita said.

According to his words, the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 induces a chain reaction in all sectors of the economy. Companies that involve intensive interaction with customers, as well as those that have not diversified their activities, have suffered most of all.

"The current instability highlights the weak sides of the national investment climate. All this, together with the problems caused by the pandemic, creates grounds for deterioration of the investment position of the RM. In addition to respecting the rule of law, tax regime and infrastructure quality, investors are also analyzing how state bodies have dealt with the pandemic and economic crisis, distributed resources and applied different approaches from the entrepreneurial and social points of view. Therefore, we are seeing more and more discussions about the need to create a simple mechanism for guaranteeing loans through the agency of the state, digitizing B2B, B2G2B, implementation of Kurzarbeit measures," Gheorghita said.

According to him, during the pandemic, the Economic Council under the Prime Minister was one of the most effective platforms for public-private dialogue, which allowed to bring many issues to the highest level.