Today, the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development of the PMR has spread a statement at the official website regarding the facts of biased coverage of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) to the situation in the sphere of foreign economic activity of Pridnestrovie. Here is the text of the statement in full:
“The Ministry of Economic Development has received an information summary through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR prepared by the experts of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) about some indicators of foreign economic activity of Pridnestrvie in July 2015.
We note with regret that the information contained in the document bears apparent signs of a tendentious and unfair approach which damage the professional authority of the Mission.
In this context, the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development of the PMR reports the following.
The data for July 2015 given by EUBAM experts are provided solely for the economic agents registered in Moldova and carried out foreign trade operations through the customs authorities of the Republic of Moldova. At the same time indicators of the Pridnestrovian trade with the Republic of Moldova, as well as in some cases indicators of trade with Ukraine have been excluded from the statistics.
Besides, taking into account the stability of the ruble of the PMR against the US dollar, there is concern that when EUBAM experts converted the customs statistics in Moldovan Leu the factor of the devaluation of the leu was not taken into account, amounting to 38.59% from August 10, 2014 to August 10, 2015.
Such unconscionable approach resulted in EUBAM’s biased coverage given to the situation in the sphere of foreign economic activity of Pridnestrovie in July 2015 for a number of indicators and bringing that false information to the attention of a wide range of addressees, including, as far as we know, of all foreign ambassadors accredited in Moldova.
- Export
EUBAM experts believe that in July 2015 “the value of goods exported by the Pridnestrovian economic agents amounted to MDL 797 833 225 (EUR 38.2 million); thus, compared to the same period last year an increase of 40%, and as compared to the previous month of the same year - an increase of 34%.”
It is noteworthy that to receive such figures the authors at once resorted to two methods of data manipulation: they deducted value of exports to the Republic of Moldova from the total indicators of Pridnesterovian exports and compared the data in July 2015 to July 2014 without taking into account factors of the devaluation of the Moldovan leu and the euro.
As a result, instead of the original indicators of Pridnestrovian exports amounted to USD 64.4 million in July 2015 (about EUR 58.5 million) and decreased by 2.3% in comparison with July 2014, the EUBAM experts discovered 40% growth which does not exist actually.
It should also be noted that if we deduct indices of trade with the Republic of Moldova from the total export value, like EUBAM experts did, the indicators in July 2015 will be worse than in July 2014, showing decline by 3%.
|
Checked indicator |
According to EUBAM data |
According to the data of the SCC of the PMR |
|
Total indicators of exports |
||
|
Value of goods exported by economic agents of the PMR for July 2015 |
--- |
EUR 58,5 million |
|
Value of goods exported by economic agents of the PMR for July 2014 |
--- |
EUR 59,8 million |
|
Dynamics of exports in July 2015 in comparison with July 2014 |
--- |
decline by 2.3 % |
|
Without regard to the exports to Moldova |
||
|
Value of goods exported by economic agents of the PMR for July 2015 |
EUR 38,2 million |
EUR 35,8 milliion |
|
Value of goods exported by economic agents of the PMR for July 2014 |
--- |
EUR 36,9 million |
|
Dynamics of exports in July 2015 in comparison with July 2014 |
increase of 40% |
decline by 3% |
- Import
The divergence in statistics of Pridnestrovie and EUBAM is observed in terms of imports too. Mission experts provide data on Pridnestrovian imports only through the customs authorities of the Republic of Moldova, while fixing some growth, but they do not “notice” imports via Ukraine and total indicators of import.
EUBAM experts write that the “cost of goods imported in Pridnestrovie through legitimate customs authorities amounted to MDL 580 045 025 (EUR 27.8 million) during the reporting period, therefore having grown threefold in comparison with the same period last year and by 24% in comparison with the previous month of the same year.
The Ministry of Economic Development of the PMR focuses foreign partners’ attention that some increase in the import of goods through the customs authorities of Moldova is a coercive measure for economic agents of the PMR that is related to blockade measures of Ukraine which has banned movement of the excise goods through checkpoints on the Pridnestrovian-Ukrainian border since the autumn of 2014.
At the same time this kind of reorientation of imports has not led to the complete replacement of the traditional imports through the Pridnestrovian-Ukrainian border due to significant expenses of economic agents. A consequence of this has been a general decline in the Pridnestrovian imports by nearly 30% in July 2015 which further aggravated the difficult economic situation in the country.
According to the State Customs Committee of the PMR (SCC), in fact, there was a decrease in imports in July 2015 by almost 30% compared to the same period in 2014.
|
Checked indicator |
According to the EUBAM data |
According to the data of the SCC of the PMR |
|
Total indicators of imports |
||
|
Value of goods imported by economic agents of the PMR for July 2015 |
EUR 27,8 million |
EUR 90,5 million |
|
Value of goods imported by economic agents of the PMR for July 2014 |
--- |
EUR 128 million |
|
Dynamics of imports in July 2015 in comparison with July 2014 |
increase of three times |
decline by 29,3% |
The Ministry of Economic Development of the PMR reminds that the accuracy and impartiality of the selection of data are crucial for the preparation of high-quality statistics. Any kind of manipulation and non-disclosure only distort the overall picture of the actual situation, making it difficult to make responsible and well thought-out decisions.
We hope that the availability of public information on the state of foreign economic activity of Pridnestrovie accessible to compare with the data of EUBAM will allow to avoid the recurrence of such ridiculous cases in future, all the more strange when they come from the structure claiming a constructive role in the settlement.
