Investments

Moldova ranked 101st in the Index of Economic Freedom 2026 out of 184 states. This rating has been compiled for 32 years by the American research center The Heritage Foundation. It is determined on the basis of 12 quantitative and qualitative indicators organized in 4 main groups.

For the second year in a row, Kernel Agroholding has maintained absolute leadership in the country’s two key export categories – cereals and sunflower oil – and holds the first position in the overall ranking. In the structure of Ukraine’s exports, every tenth dollar is Kernel’s contribution.

The price of gold went down this week – on March 18 it fell below $5000 per ounce and lost another 3% in the following days. But this is not due to a loss of confidence in the “eternal” precious metal, but just the opposite. Due to high liquidity, investors are urgently selling gold to cover losses as a result of the energy crisis and falling markets.

Daily altcoin turnover on Binance has collapsed 80% from its peak to $7.7 billion, signaling waning investor interest, a Darkfost analyst said.

On March 18-19, the Romanian capital hosted the East Gate Strategic Forum, the founding act of the European Group for Territorial Cooperation (GECT – Grupării Europene de Cooperare Teritorială).

The proclamation of the agri-food sector as a national priority and the allocation of at least 15% of the state budget of the Republic of Moldova for its development is the first point of the resolution of the Association “Moldova Fruct”, adopted at the jubilee (20th since its creation) annual general meeting of the organization’s members.

Modernization of public services, cloud infrastructure development, security and digital sovereignty were key topics of discussion during a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization Eugeniu Osmochescu and the leadership of technology giants Amazon Web Services, IBM and Widelity Inc. Washington. They also discussed the use of new technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, to improve governance and economic efficiency.

Economic analyst Veaceslav Ionita drew attention to a worrying trend: the quality of the mortgage lending market is deteriorating in Moldova.

The Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia at a meeting on March 20 reduced the key rate by 50 basis points, down to 15%. This is reported by RBC with reference to the regulator. This is the seventh consecutive rate cut in the current cycle of monetary policy easing, which started in June 2025.

The GTC 2026 Nvidia conference, held from March 16 to 19 in San Jose and attended by thousands of developers, investors and the world’s largest technology companies, cemented Nvidia’s status as the central architect of the global AI industry. The event, which a few years ago was perceived as an industry forum, today actually sets the agenda for the entire technology market – from cloud computing to enterprise software, according to Reuters.

After three-hour talks with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, U.S. Special Envoy John Cole said that President Donald Trump calls Lukashenko his friend and a respected world leader.

SpaceX conducted another launch of Starlink satellites on March 19, continuing the accelerated deployment of the world’s largest orbital Internet constellation. The Falcon 9 rocket put 29 next-generation satellites into orbit, confirming the company’s transition to an almost continuous cycle of launches.

With the beginning of spring agricultural works, the National Center for Research and Seed Production (CNCPS) will intensify its activities in production and research areas. This year, the institution will allocate about 2.6 thousand hectares of agricultural land for commercial cultivation of spring crop seeds and experimental demonstration plots.

In just one day since the launch of the second phase of the Casa Verde (Green House) program, 553 applications for funding were registered. Almost half of them (255 applications) came from residents of Chisinau municipality, the remaining 298 from residents from other parts of the country.

Turkey is entering a new stage of its energy strategy, negotiating the construction of nuclear power plants with a number of global players, from Russia to Canada. This could involve projects with a total capacity of up to 8 reactors and total investments of up to $100 billion over the next decade, which could radically change the country’s energy balance.

The excitement around Chanel’s new collection proved once again that the luxury industry still knows how to create desire and manage customer attention. The launch of the accessories line was not just a fashion event, but an indication of how the right strategy can revitalize demand even in the face of talk of an overheating market.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Environmental Information and Observation Network (Eionet) today approved the Republic of Moldova as a partner country, thus expanding the EEA network to 32 member countries and 7 partner countries across Europe.

The war in Iran is shaking the world economy more and more thoroughly. Global financial markets are showing signs of growing panic amid escalating conflict in the Middle East and a sharp jump in energy prices, analysts say.

Only 15 out of 240 state-owned companies have external audits, and 55 out of 108 state-owned enterprises are headed by temporary administrators. These are statements from audit reports prepared by experts of the Audit Chamber. They were voiced during a meeting of the parliamentary commission for the control of public finances.

Swiss watch exports showed strong growth in February 2026, reinforcing the signal of recovering demand for luxury goods. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, shipments abroad increased by 9.2% year-on-year to CHF 2.168 billion, compared to a 3.6% decline a month earlier.