Macroeconomics

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.

Moldova has been waiting for more than three years for the start of negotiations on joining the EU, but during these years it has only drifted away from the European standards in all fields, says former Deputy Prime Minister and former Economics Minister Alexandru Muravski.

Russia is preparing to cut military spending for the first time since the start of the war against Ukraine. But this reduction does not mean a weakening of war funding: the government is looking for ways to spend more efficiently.

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 Executive Committee of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) at its March 19 meeting kept the prime rate at 5% per annum, leaving at the current level the norms of mandatory reserve requirements for commercial banks of the Republic of Moldova.

According to forecasts, by 2040, every fourth Moldovan citizen will be over 65 years old. And only a third of families planning to have a child in the next three years were able to realize this plan. Moldova’s demographic and economic sustainability was discussed during the public dialog “Invisible Human Capital Accelerators for Demographic Sustainability”.

ANRE has set new maximum prices for basic fuels that will be in effect tomorrow, March 19.

Robert Kiyosaki, author of the personal finance book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” has promised his subscribers online X a global economic crisis.

Moldova was ranked among the top 20 countries in terms of projected GDP growth between 2026 and 2030.

ANRE has set the maximum fuel prices that will be in effect tomorrow, March 18.

The execution of the state social insurance budget in January – February 2026 ended with an excess of revenues over expenditures by 1,238.9 million lei.

The Moldovan leu started the working week with a slight weakening against the euro and strengthening against the US dollar. In March, the Moldovan leu demonstrates high stability against major world currencies, despite the jump in world energy prices.

For Ukraine, as for other Central and Eastern European countries outside the eurozone that are already largely integrated into supply chains and trade with the EU, the additional benefits of euro adoption seem limited, but the risks are substantial.

Major indexes went up on Monday amid a drop in oil prices from highs, the passage of two tankers through the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the war began and Trump’s announcement that the U.S. is negotiating with Iran.

American oil companies may sharply increase their revenues due to the growth of world oil prices amid the conflict with Iran, analysts believe. Top managers and experts predict their increase up to $200 per barrel.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, first imposed last April and continually modified since then, have failed to start a global trade war. Instead of retaliating against the US, much of the world effectively capitulated. This response was often seen as political weakness, especially in Europe. However, it was based on sound economic logic.

In the face of soaring energy and fuel prices, government agencies are moving to strict cost control. Ministers and agencies are obliged to cut all unnecessary purchases by at least 10%, and expenses on official transportation by at least 20%.

The 4th session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s largest legislative body, has concluded in the Chinese capital. The forum, held from March 4 to 12, summed up the results of economic development and defined key guidelines for the coming years, including the launch of a new five-year economic modernization program.

Europe is the region of the world with the highest average age of the population.

The war in Iran has shaken the global oil and gas markets. At first glance, the cryptocurrency market was less noticeably affected. But analysts warn: the risks of investing in crypto-assets have increased significantly. And they can manifest themselves in an unexpected way at any moment.