“ “To be or not to be?

(W. Shakespeare) “

Shakespeare’s dilemma seems to be critically actual for citizens of the Republic of Modova, although having another connotation that we all knew.

The authorities put forward this new question on February 10, 2010, during the government session, which was broadcast online on the internet. They talked over the issue of cancellation of the fuel ticket system by making some changes in the legal framework.

At the moment, the effects of these changes will be felt by ordinary citizens, private companies and public entities, which purchase fuel using the Ticket System. The advantage of this system was that the buyer (which may be any natural person, legal entity or state institution) may acquire certain oil products (gasoline, diesel) and benefit from a commercial discount by paying in advance the price fixed for retailing. Petroleum products are cheaper when purchased through the ticket system rather than purchased directly at the fuel station.

Since the moment these changes have been adopted , we will have a new increase of prices for purchasing petroleum products (I mean those who use the system of tickets), in addition to the one that has taken place recently; which will depress the power of purchasing.

This initiative has caused a lot of discussion, splitting the Government in two camps for and against. It is clear that the answer to this question we will find out very soon, because the final decision on this matter was postponed to the next meeting.

It remains to see what will happen.

Global Financial Crisis took its origin from USA, in august 2007, when it triggered a collapse of the mortgage market, which prompted the bankruptcy of some biggest banks. The USA government and most governments from the European Union had undertaken some measures, aimed at saving the bank system.

At that moment Republic of Moldova seemed not to be concerned about what was happening in the world, claiming that we had professionalism and stability in our country. Indeed at that time we were not affected by the crisis. It might be explained that we don`t use the same credit system as developed countries do (eg.ABS, CDO).

After one year and two mounths , we started to confront the problem of liquidity, and gradually the demand in the housing market started to decline. This might be explained by the fact that our citizens working abroad had been already affected by the crisis from the country of their employer. In this way it had an impact on mortgage market in Moldova, that led to halting construction activities. These construction companies fell into default and then we started feeling the financial crisis on our skin.

The number of these companies was not so high and a cautious position had been put forward by commercial banks, which was manifested by: deliberate identification of real client who is to be granted a credit, allocated credit resources covered only 40 % of the estimated collateral value (fair market value of assets), compared with 60% granted previously; in order to attract citizens’ savings they were paying a high interest rate, sometimes exaggerated.

Unfavorable situation in the world, political and financial crisis in Moldova led us to determined economic crisis in octombre this year,which had an impact on real sector of national economy (production and consumption of goods and services). I think that this shift from financial to economic crisis represents the second wave of crisis. According to the writer and historian Niall Ferguson, it will bring a lot of negative effects to developing countries and those in the period of transition to market economy and Moldova is not an exception from this.
Initially this effect will be felt by economic entities with a less eficient management and then other companies might follow.

A good example would be the bankrupcy of a well- known company producing brandy “Aroma” and the fact that other three companies with a major state shareholding could be declared insolvent: ” Moldresurse”, “Combinatul de produse alimentare din Bălţi” and society ”National-Vin”. The second example might be the reduction of wages in average by 5 %, that took place in October compared to September 2009 (from 1621 to 1538 lei in agriculture (here, this decline may be caused partially by seansonal factors), from 3224lei to 3073 lei in industrial sector, from 5629lei to 5241lei in banking system).
To better understand how many employed people in Moldova were affected by the economic crisis I propose you to examine the chart, based on statistics data.

According to the chart displayed above we can conclude that only in October 2009, 45% of employed work force in Moldova suffered from economic crisis.

Another factor that aggravates the economic crisis is the decline of remittances. So if we compare the statistical information, reported by the National Bank of Moldova, regarding remittance flows provided by people working overseas (residents and non) in the first three quarters of 2008 compared to 2009, we can see a negative trend as there was a reduction of 416.68 million dollars.
In other words, one of the most important sources, which directly influences the budget tax revenue, decreased by about half bilion in the period of January-September 2009, compared to the same period of 2008.

Further development of the economic crisis in Moldova is highly dependent on the decisions taken by the present government, and how they can attract external financial resources. (Our economy is highly dependent on foreign financial assistance).
In the context of above, we can conclude that further development of the economic crisis may run after one of two scenarios:

First, if our government manages to attract the financial support promised by Russia, EU, U.S. and China starting from December 2009, we will be able to easily surpass the economic crisis by the end of 2010, although its top point will be attained in March-May 2010.

If they fail to attract financial resources, the second scenario will follow that might deepen economic crisis and later even turn into a social one.
Inability to attract funds may be caused by:
– Failure of presidential elections, which will transform the current government in one provisional. In this way, many of the promised loans would become unaccessible because the potential creditors require certain guarantees and sustainability (sustainable development);
– lack of professionalism of the current leadership in adopting an effective fiscal-budgetary policy for the upcoming year;
-failure of the current government to maintain the level of credibility in relations with donors andforeign creditors.

Social crisis brings about public agitations and protests, finally threatening legal order, and as history repeats, some events of ’29-’33 in Europe could become very authentic for Moldova.

However, I refuse to believe that such events will take place and starting from the maximum “Hope dies last!”, I remain with the idea that the situation will not complicate so much and worries appeared on people’s faces over the last year will turn into smiles and it will create an amiable atmosphere in society.

“Companies that will succeed in business will be those that will succeed in
development of the most effective global network. (Ph.Kotler ) ”

Yesterday, there was September 1st , my first day at the university when recent graduates of high schools were praised by the lecturers, deans and rector on the fact that they had become students.
One of the speeches aroused admiration, respect and a lot of applauses. In it, the speaker referred to the opportunities that the graduates of universities would benefit, the economic role they would play in the development of Moldova and in the process of globalization.
Thus, I realized that in our country the idea of being a member of a legal entity, where free movement of capital, labor , goods and services is allowed, where religion, culture and human rights are respected, enjoys a great support among young generation. Proceeding from this, I decided to write some ideas that I have acquired at the seminar ”Globalization and Entrepreneurship ” held by the professor from the University of Texas at Dalas , Mr Tevfik Dalgik within 15th Anatolia Congress. According to his opinion, the ideal model of globalization is the existence of a single global market. Thus, the unification of the economies will cause thousands of changes .The most important point is the new way of entrepreneur‘s thinking:

-He has the right to do business anywhere in the world;

-When initiating a company or developing a brand he must take into consideration that there are about 6.5 billion potential customers;

– He is firmly convinced that the supply and demand are likely to overlap and the initiation and production will take place in different parts of the world in various forms of legal organization;

-Tax issue will be examined: in this way some products will cost much cheaper, which is an advantage both for consumers and for manufacturers (eg. An American is to pay for a new Hyundai car $ 7000 including taxes and charges, while a citizen of Turkey – 14,000 $).).

According to recent studies in countries with free economies, there have been stated that in those country the pace of economic growth is higher. There are many views that globalization was launched by USA, that aimed at monopolizing world. However it is a well-known fact that China was the first to build up transnational companies (eg. Hyundai. Honda ).

Certainly, due to this phenomenon, people have some concerns such as loss of national identity, cultural and religious values. Personally, I believe that these fears are unfounded as globalization will come up and will have positive effects when it will be supported by the majority and we will become aware of that fact that the goods on earth belong to all human beings . This, in its turn, will be possible if we are able to learn how to tolerate and respect our and other religions, traditions, cultures, just as it is happening now in the European Union. If such conditions are followed it will be possible to find out the truth, assure security, maintain the liquidation of poverty and wars, achieve free trade and movement.