2017 will be better in economic terms compared to 2016. The main branches that will increase are agriculture, trade and investment. A less pleasant news is that tariffs for electricity, gas, and heat will also increase. This is the opinion expressed by IDIS Viitorul experts, Veaceslav Ionita and Victor Parlicov in the program "60 minutes of economic realism".
"Trade will increase in conditions which the tax will be 1% of turnover. Agriculture will develop as a result of better benefit to farmers, support from the state and foreign assistance. In terms of investment, it could increase after restoring the confidence of foreign partners. We have the example of 2014 when the state was a strong player in construction and has invested in the rehabilitation of schools, kindergartens, build aqueducts and local roads", explained Veaceslav Ionita.
In turn, Victor Parlicov feels that the main problem in 2017 remains the billion theft. The Government will take certain actions that will look good in front of citizens, so it is hard to talk about reforms. We have the example of the pension reform, which sparked a series of discussions in society on the background of the low trust in the Government. Authorities will focus on the small things that look nice, but not on reforms needed by Moldova.
"In 2017 we will have an increase in tariffs for electricity and natural gas by 10%, due to the inclusion of financial deviations in price. The natural gas tariff will be increased due to the oil prices on international exchanges. The only good news of the year would be an economic revival on the lower level", said Parlicov.
According to the expert, any action that would take a government to push up the economy will have no effect. "Rather, the authorities are trying to do the balancing act not to disturb development partners and provide positive news to population, but the risk of 2017 is falling out of favor with development partners”.
