A large portion of present day Moldovan territory became a province of the Russian Empire in 1812 and then unified with Romania in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I. This territory was then incorporated into the Soviet Union at the close of World War II. Although Moldova has been independent from the Soviet Union since 1991, Russian forces have remained on Moldovan territory east of the Nistru River supporting the breakaway region of Transnistria, whose population is roughly equally composed of ethnic Ukrainians, Russians, and Moldovans.

Years of Communist Party rule in Moldova post-independence ultimately ended with election-related violent protests and a rerun of parliamentary elections in 2009. Since then, a series of pro-European ruling coalitions have governed Moldova. As a result of the country's most recent legislative election in November 2014, the three pro-European parties that entered Parliament won a total of 55 of the body's 101 seats. Infighting among coalition members led to prolonged legislative gridlock and political instability, as well as the collapse of four governments, all ruled by pro-European coalitions centered around the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and the Democratic Party (PDM). A political impasse ended in January 2016 when a new parliamentary majority led by PDM, joined by defectors from the Communists and PLDM, supported PDM member Pavel FILIP as prime minister.

Moldova remains Europe's poorest economy, but has made steps toward expanding its market access by signing and ratifying an Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, which fully entered into force in July 2016 after ratification by all EU member states. Igor DODON won Moldova's first direct presidential election in over 20 years in November 2016.

Source: The CIA World Factbook - Moldova



Ihre Berater der Handelskammer

Georgia Kossmann

Kontaktieren Sie uns: europe@cc.lu


Kennzahlen

Fläche
33,851 km2
Bevölkerung
3,323,875 (July 2021 est.)
Regierungsform
parliamentary republic
Sprachen
Moldovan/Romanian 80.2% (official), Russian 9.7%, Gagauz 4.2% (a Turkish language), Ukrainian 3.9%, Bulgarian 1.5%, Romani 0.3%, other 0.2% (2014 est.)
BIP
$11.9914 billion (2020 est.)
Wachstumsrate
-6.9% (2020 est.)
HDI
90
Hauptstadt
Chisinau

Makroökonomische Indikatoren

Despite recent progress, Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. With a moderate climate and productive farmland, Moldova's economy relies heavily on its agriculture sector, featuring fruits, vegetables, wine, wheat, and tobacco. Moldova also depends on annual remittances of about $1.5 billion - more than 20% of GDP - from the roughly one million Moldovans working in Europe, Russia, and other former Soviet Bloc countries.

With few natural energy resources, Moldova imports almost all of its energy supplies from Russia and Ukraine. Moldova's dependence on Russian energy is underscored by a more than $6 billion debt to Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom, largely the result of unreimbursed natural gas consumption in the breakaway region of Transnistria. Moldova and Romania inaugurated the Ungheni-Iasi natural gas interconnector project in August 2014. The 43-kilometer pipeline between Moldova and Romania, allows for both the import and export of natural gas. Several technical and regulatory delays kept gas from flowing into Moldova until March 2015. Romanian gas exports to Moldova are largely symbolic. Moldova plans to build a pipeline connecting Ungheni to Chisinau, bringing the gas to Moldovan population centers. Moldova also seeks to connect with the European power grid by 2022.

The government's stated goal of EU integration has resulted in some market-oriented progress. Moldova experienced better than expected economic growth in 2014 due to increased agriculture production, to economic policies adopted by the Moldovan government since 2009, and to the receipt of EU trade preferences. During fall 2014, Moldova signed an Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU, connecting Moldovan products to the world’s largest market. Still, a $1 billion asset-stripping heist of Moldovan banks in late 2014 delivered a significant shock to the economy in 2015; a subsequent bank bailout increased inflationary pressures and contributed to the depreciation of the leu and a minor recession. Moldova’s growth has also been hampered by endemic corruption, which costs the country 8-13% of its annual GDP, and Russian restrictions on imports of Moldova’s agricultural products. The government’s push to restore stability and implement meaningful reform led to the approval in 2016 of a $179 million three-year IMF program focused on improving the banking and fiscal environments, along with additional assistance programs from the EU, World Bank, and Romania.

Over the longer term, Moldova's economy remains vulnerable to corruption, political uncertainty, weak administrative capacity, vested bureaucratic interests, energy import dependence, Russian political and economic pressure, heavy dependence on agricultural exports, and unresolved separatism in Moldova's Transnistria region.

Source: The CIA World Factbook - Economic overview Moldova

IMF Statistics:

Subject descriptor 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Gross domestic product, constant prices

Percent change

4.002

3.500

3.800

3.800

3.800

Gross domestic product, current prices

Percent change

(Billions)

11.309

11.688

12.281

12.975

13.725

Gross domestic product per capita, current prices

Percent change

(Units)

3,190.832

3,300.090

3,470.194

3,668.934

3,883.749

Inflation, average consumer prices

Percent change

3.059

4.940

5.664

5.000

5.000

Volume of imports of goods and services

Percent change

10.327

8.086

6.263

5.335

4.791

Volume of exports of goods and services

Percent change

7.400

9.704

6.424

6.510

6.286

Unemployment rate

Percent change

3.022

3.022

3.022

3.022

3.022

Current account balance

Percent change

(Billions)

-1.187

-1.063

-1.092

-1.110

-1.103

Current account balance

Percent change

-10.494

-9.097

-8.888

-8.554

-8.039

Estimates

Source: IMF Statistics - Moldova


Luxemburg und das Land

Existing Conventions and Agreements

Non double taxation agreement 

In order to promote international economic and financial relations in the interest of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg government negotiates bilateral agreements for the avoidance of double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on fortune with third countries.

  • Convention from 11.07.2007 (Memorial 2009, A No.229, p.3961)
  • Effective as of 01.01.2010 (Memorial 2009, A No.229, p.3961)

Air Services agreement

None

Source: Administration des Contributions Directes


Weitere Informationen

Foreign Trade

The Statec Foreign Trade statistics provide information on the trade of goods - by product and by country. This information is collected respectively through the INTRASTAT declaration and on the basis of customs documents.

You can see the statistics on the website of the Statec.

Contact Points in Moldova

Luxembourg is represented by Consulat du Royaume des Pays-Bas à Chisinau


Honorary Consuls

Honorary Consul with jurisdiction over the Republic of Moldova:

Mr Luc VOCKS

Str. Ivan Zaikin 2,
MD-2004 Chisinau
Moldova

Tel.: (+ 373) (0) 6922 9057
E-Mail: chisinau@consul-hon.lu 

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg

Country risk as defined by Office du Ducroire for Moldova

Ducroire is the only credit insurer covering open account deals in over 200 countries. A rating on a scale from 1 to 7 shows the intensity of the political risk. Category 1 comprises countries with the lowest political risk and category 7 countries with the highest. Macroeconomics experts also assess the repayment climate for all buyers in a country.

Link: Ducroire Office - Country Risk for Moldova

Other useful links


Die Handelskammer und das Land