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MoldovaForeign Trade
Within the Soviet economy, Moldova was an importer of
industrial raw materials, fossil fuels, and manufactured
goods.
Its primary exports to other Soviet republics included
wine and
spirits, processed foods, clothing and textiles, and small
amounts of electrical equipment.
Since independence, Moldova has struggled to reorganize
its
domestic economy and at the same time to reorient its
foreign
trade, finding new markets for its products and new
sources for
the essential imports it traditionally obtained from the
Soviet
Union. In 1991, however, 73 percent of Moldova's imports
and 96
percent of its exports were still directed toward
territories of
the former Soviet Union. In addition, Moldova had a
surplus of
572 million rubles in its trade with the former Soviet
republics
but a deficit of 875 million rubles in its trade with the
rest of
the world. This disparity clearly suggested the difficulty
Moldova faced in restructuring its trade relationships,
given
that in 1994, 73 percent of Moldova's foreign trade was
with
other members of the CIS, and only 27 percent was with the
West.
In 1994 exports totaled 2,397 million lei (US$580
million), up 20
percent from 1993, and imports totaled 2,704 million lei
(US$662
million), down 12 percent from 1993, resulting in a trade
deficit
of 307 million lei.
By 1992 Moldova had established joint ventures with
Bulgaria,
Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Vietnam, and
the
United States, and it had signed bilateral trade
agreements with
China, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden,
Serbia and
Montenegro, and ten of the former Soviet republics. In
1995
Moldova's major CIS trading partners were Russia, Ukraine,
and
Belarus, and its major non-CIS trading partners were
Romania,
Germany, the United States, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy.
Barter
accounted for over 41 percent of Moldova's total volume of
foreign trade in 1994.
By the end of 1992, the United States government had
signed
several agreements with Moldova and had granted Moldova
most-favored-nation status (see Glossary).
A bilateral
investment
treaty was signed with the Moldovan government in April
1993. The
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had signed
a
bilateral agreement with Moldova authorizing OPIC to
provide
loans, loan guarantees, and investment insurance to United
States
companies investing in Moldova. As of September 1994, 314
joint
ventures had been established (partners included more than
fifty
from Romania, more than thirty from the United States,
twentyfive from Germany, and twenty from Bulgaria), but only
one-third
are operational. Joint ventures account for only 2.3
percent of
Moldova's industrial output and substantially less than 1
percent
of Moldova's employment.
In 1992 Moldova became a member of the International
Monetary Fund
(IMF--see Glossary) and the
World Bank (see Glossary),
making it eligible to receive financing for capital
infrastructure projects. (The Moldovan government
consulted with
the IMF on a plan of economic reform that year and
immediately
implemented a number of reform measures.) Moldova and
United
States companies investing in Moldova are also eligible to
receive loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction
and
Development (EBRD), which emphasizes programs and
activities that
support privatization, financial reform, industrial
restructuring, the creation and strengthening of
infrastructure,
inflows of foreign investment, and environmental
remediation. In
addition, the Moldovan government has signed the
Group of Seven (see Glossary)
external debt agreement; its share of the
external
debt of the former Soviet Union was determined to be
US$1.7
billion. An agreement was signed in 1993 by Moldova and
Russia
transferring this debt to Russia and renouncing any claims
by
Moldova on properties of the former Soviet Union. In
November
1994, Moldova signed a partnership and cooperation
agreement with
the European Union (EU).
In 1992 the Moldovan parliament adopted the Law on
Foreign
Investment (later amended in July 1994). This law was
developed
in cooperation with representatives of foreign enterprises
and
the World Bank and is recognized as the best of all such
laws in
countries belonging to the CIS. Together with changes in
the tax
law, the Law on Foreign Investment has made Moldova a much
easier
place for foreign companies to do business.
By 1995 the government of Moldova had relaxed most of
its
restrictions on the country's foreign trade. Importers and
exporters no longer had to be registered, but export
licenses
were still needed for certain goods, such as grains,
energy
resources, animal hides, and special products (including
arms,
precious metals, and chemical products).
Data as of June 1995
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