On March 27, Moldovan agricultural producers will organize a massive action of protest against the government’s policy. They are going to bring thousands of tractors and other field machines to the sides of national highways across the republic.

 

Alexandru Slusari, Chairman of the all-republican UniAgroProtect Association of Agricultural Producers, stated at a news conference in Infotag on Wednesday that the workers of Moldova’s chief economy sector are demanding from the Government to immediately double the volume of subsidies in agriculture, to preserve the VAT rate at the current 8% level, and to permit agricultural enterprises to import fuel and lubricants for production needs independently of oil importing companies.

 

Slusari stated that the Government is deaf to farmers’ demands and would not lift a finger to solve their problems, “so massive protesting is the only way left for us to survive”.

 

The heads of agricultural associations confirmed their commitment to Moldova’s Euro-integration course in a belief that the integration “provides a chance for country modernization”, but drew the Government’s attention that the Moldovan agriculture development fails to meet European standards and norms. They stated that in European Union countries, subsidies for agriculture constitute 9% GDP, whereas in Moldova – under 2%.

 

Touching on the vital problem of the projected raising of the VAT rate in agriculture, the news conference participants were unanimous in the assertion that the VAT pushing up to 20% will not lead to greater revenues to the State Budget.

 

“We have explained all this to International Monetary Fund representatives on the basis of our deep analysis and calculations. We are ready to present our figures once again, if necessary, to convince the IMF that we are right. We fully realize that the settlement of the VAT rate question plays a principle role for concluding a new Memorandum of cooperation between the Government of Moldova, the National Bank of Moldova and the International Monetary Fund”, said Alexandru Slusari.

 

The UniAgroProtect chairman said that chief risks for the Moldovan economy are now coming from the financial market, in particular from the situation developing around the three banks [Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala and Unibank], from which over 13 billion lei were withdrawn thievishly and hidden in offshore zones.

 

“That stirred up instability on the financial market and led to national currency depreciation and to growth of prices on imported goods, which is a particularly painful blow on farmers who import practically all they need for business (seeds, plant protection means, fuel, spare parts, machines) from foreign countries”, said Alexandru Slusari.

 

He is convinced that in what happened in the autumn of 2014, the notorious “external factor” constituted only 20% and the rest 80% was the consequence of the inactivity of the Government and the National Bank.

 

Association leaders complained against the behavior of banks, which have suspended the issuing of credits even to those producers that have a good credit history.

 

Iurie Fala, Executive Director of the Moldova Fruct Association, said that interest rates on credits presently exceed 20% p.a., which is making them unaffordable for an absolute majority of farms.

 

He drew attention to farm workers’ “blind-alley situation”: as they don't receive their pays for months, they leave their villages and go for jobs to foreign countries.

 

Fala wondered: how come the National Bank was able to find 10 billion lei to underpin the above-mentioned problematic banks, but is not able to provide 300 million lei to save the farm sector?

 

“We begged for only 1% of the State’s hard-currency reserve, but the National Bank said no. But when the said banks asked many times more, the NBM did that rapidly. May be because all that was designed so?” asked Alexandru Slusari