Vasile Tofan
According to Tofan, Moldova should compete by offering a simplified tax system, favorable regulations, and an attractive investment climate.
“Moldova’s advantage as a small country with a small domestic market is that its development strategy is, in essence, predetermined—we have no choice. A small country has only one chance—to create a platform for exporting goods and services. For me, the model for Moldova’s development is countries such as Ireland, Estonia, Singapore, and New Zealand. These are small, open economies that are able to compete not on the basis of the size of their domestic markets, but through a tax system that is as simple as possible, streamlined inspections, and significantly less stringent regulation than that of their neighbors and regional competitors,” Tofan shared his views in an interview with ZF.
As an example, the prime minister cited the IT sector, which, thanks to an attractive tax regime, has managed to generate a significant volume of exports.
“We have a flat tax of 7% on revenue, which replaces seven other taxes. In fact, we built this industry practically from scratch, and today the volume of net exports of services exceeds one billion euros. Its share of GDP is even higher than in Romania. In this sense, IT is a good example of how well-thought-out policies and a competently structured tax system can create a very successful industry,” said the Prime Minister.
Tofan cited medical tourism as another example, which, he said, “received no support from the state, yet has become one of Moldova’s fastest-growing sectors.” In addition, he believes that higher education also has significant export potential thanks to the influx of foreign students.
“This is also a good example. We currently have more than 3,000 students. Considering that each student spends at least 20,000 euros per year, this already creates an export sector worth 60 million euros. And what would happen if we increased the number of students fivefold? In my view, this is by no means an overly ambitious goal. Then we would have an export sector worth 300 million euros,” concluded Vasile Tofan.
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