
| Economy - overview | Despite recent progress, Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. With a moderate climate and productive farmland, Moldova's economy relies heavily on its agriculture sector, featuring fruits, vegetables, wine, and tobacco. Moldova also depends on annual remittances of about $1.12 billion from the roughly one million Moldovans working in Europe, Russia, and other former Soviet Bloc countries. With few natural energy resources, Moldova imports almost all of its energy supplies from Russia and Ukraine. Moldova's dependence on Russian energy is underscored by a more than $5 billion debt to Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom, largely the result of unreimbursed natural gas consumption in the breakaway region of Transnistria. Moldova and Romania inaugurated the Ungheni-Iasi natural gas interconnector project in August 2014. The 43-kilometer pipeline between Moldova and Romania, allows for both the import and export of natural gas. Several technical and regulatory delays kept gas from flowing into Moldova until March 2015. Romanian gas exports to Moldova are largely symbolic. Moldova hopes to build a pipeline connecting Ungheni to Chisinau, bringing the gas to Moldovan population centers. The government's stated goal of EU integration has resulted in some market-oriented progress. Moldova experienced better than expected economic growth in 2014 due to increased agriculture production, to economic policies adopted by the Moldovan government since 2009, and to the receipt of EU trade preferences. During fall 2014, Moldova signed an Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU, connecting Moldovan products to the world’s largest market. Still, a $1 billion asset-stripping heist of Moldovan banks in late 2014 delivered a significant shock to the economy in 2015; a subsequent bank bailout increased inflationary pressures and contributed to the depreciation of the leu. Moldova’s growth has also been hampered by endemic corruption and a Russian import ban on Moldova’s agricultural products. The government’s push to restore stability and implement meaningful reform led to the approval of a $179 million three-year IMF program focused on improving the banking and fiscal environments. Over the longer term, Moldova's economy remains vulnerable to corruption, political uncertainty, weak administrative capacity, vested bureaucratic interests, higher fuel prices, Russian political and economic pressure, and unresolved separatism in Moldova's Transnistria region. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | $20.07 billion (2017 est.) $19.29 billion (2016 est.) $18.5 billion (2015 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars |
| GDP (official exchange rate) | $7.945 billion (2016 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 4% (2017 est.) 4.3% (2016 est.) -0.4% (2015 est.) |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | $5,700 (2017 est.) $5,400 (2016 est.) $5,200 (2015 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars |
| Gross national saving | 18.8% of GDP (2017 est.) 18.6% of GDP (2016 est.) 18% of GDP (2015 est.) |
| GDP - composition, by end use | household consumption: 90% government consumption: 19.1% investment in fixed capital: 23% investment in inventories: 0.1% exports of goods and services: 51% imports of goods and services: -83.1% (2017 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 14.2% industry: 21% services: 64.8% (2017 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | 20.8% (2013 est.) |
| Labor force | 1.295 million (2017 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 33.7% industry: 12.1% services: 54.2% (2016 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 4.3% (2017 est.) 4.2% (2016 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 12.8% male: 12.4% female: 13.5% (2015 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 4.2% highest 10%: 22.1% (2014 est.) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index | 26.8 (2015 est.) 26.8 (2014 est.) |
| Budget | revenues: $2.796 billion expenditures: $3.027 billion note: National Public Budget (2017 est.) |
| Taxes and other revenues | 35.2% of GDP (2017 est.) |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | -2.9% of GDP (2017 est.) |
| Public debt | 43.4% of GDP (2017 est.) 43.3% of GDP (2016 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 6.5% (2017 est.) 6.4% (2016 est.) |
| Central bank discount rate | 9% (31 December 2016) 19.5% (31 December 2015) note: this is the basic rate on short-term operations |
| Commercial bank prime lending rate | 10.3% (31 December 2017 est.) 14.28% (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Stock of narrow money | $1.958 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $1.406 billion (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Stock of broad money | $4.695 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $3.529 billion (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Stock of domestic credit | $2.197 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $1.942 billion (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Market value of publicly traded shares | $9.723 million (31 December 2014 est.) $50.47 million (31 December 2014 est.) $65.29 million (31 December 2013 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | vegetables, fruits, grapes, grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, tobacco; beef, milk; wine |
| Industries | sugar processing, vegetable oil, food processing, agricultural machinery; foundry equipment, refrigerators and freezers, washing machines; hosiery, shoes, textiles |
| Industrial production growth rate | 4% (2017 est.) |
| Current Account Balance | -$314 million (2017 est.) -$258 million (2016 est.) |
| Exports | $1.78 billion (2017 est.) $1.547 billion (2016 est.) |
| Exports - commodities | foodstuffs, textiles, machinery |
| Exports - partners | Romania 25.5%, Russia 11.6%, Italy 9.9%, Germany 6.3%, UK 5.7%, Belarus 5.2% (2016) |
| Imports | $4.01 billion (2017 est.) $3.604 billion (2016 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | mineral products and fuel, machinery and equipment, chemicals, textiles |
| Imports - partners | Romania 13.7%, Russia 13.3%, China 9.8%, Ukraine 9.5%, Germany 7.9%, Italy 7%, Turkey 6.8% (2016) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $2.3 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $2.206 billion (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Debt - external | $6.503 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $6.138 billion (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | $3.581 billion (31 December 2016 est.) $3.466 billion (31 December 2015 est.) |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | $206.1 million (31 December 2016) $197.1 million (31 December 2015) |
| Exchange rates | Moldovan lei (MDL) per US dollar - 18.03 (2017 est.) 19.924 (2016 est.) 19.924 (2015 est.) 19.83 (2014 est.) 14.036 (2013 est.) |
| Fiscal year | calendar year |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on January 20, 2018
