Marina Solovieva
This is the view expressed by Marina Soloviova, program director at the Independent Center Expert Grup.
“When we talk about the impact of gas prices on business, we need to consider two things,” she notes. “First, the rates approved by the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE) do not apply to all gas consumers, but only to households and small businesses. Large enterprises that consume significant amounts of gas purchase it themselves on the free market, and its cost for them may vary.”
There are few gas-intensive enterprises left in Moldova
“Second, there are relatively few truly gas-intensive industrial enterprises left in Moldova,” she continues. “But at the same time, rising gas prices affect businesses in any case—not so much directly as indirectly, through secondary effects”.
Of the enterprises in Moldova that are directly gas-intensive, only the ceramic tile factory in Taraclia remains.
“But it suspended production a long time ago due to problems with the cost of gas—after all, those problems didn’t just start now,” Marina Soloviova explains.
“In addition, there are two glass factories in the country; one has already cut back production for the same reason, while the other is state-owned and up for privatization.”
She notes that enterprises in the baking industry can be considered gas-intensive. For them, gas accounts for approximately 5–10% of the cost of production.
“Accordingly, for a small bakery that uses gas, a 41% increase in the tariff could raise the cost of bread by 2–4%. NARE’s rates do not apply to a large bread factory such as ‘Franzelutsa,’ and the specific impact depends on the terms under which the factory purchases gas on the market,” the expert comments.
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