3 December 2021 – About 30% of Moldovan migrants living abroad save about $800 million annually, which they spend on goods and services in the countries where they are.

This is what Dumitru Vicol, a financial markets expert living in London, told the Economic Council meeting. According to the expert, Moldovans who do not send remittances home prefer to spend their savings in the countries where they have settled in order to buy real estate, open deposit accounts in banks, open businesses or invest in pension funds, etc. Dumitru Vicol argues that by 2025 the savings of Moldovan migrants will increase significantly, and the government in Chisinau should think about methods and instruments that would allow them to use this money for the national economy.

The problem is that there is currently no data showing which economic sectors can attract these financial resources or what kind of adjustments to national legislation are needed to attract these investments. Thus, during the Economic Council meeting, was launched to pilot in the Republic of Moldova the innovative methodology for measuring the economic impact of diaspora beyond remittances.

Ghenadie Cretu, Migration and Development Programme Manager of the International Organization for Migration in Moldova, present at the discussions, noted that the money Moldovan migrants have sent home so far has been spent on consumption or invested mainly in buying apartments, repairing houses and bank deposits. The innovative methodology for measuring the economic impact of the diaspora beyond remittances will help both the government and the private sector to understand in which areas of the Moldovan economy migrants could invest in the longer term.

UNDP Moldova representative Andrei Darie, noted during the discussions that the Moldovan diaspora is very active in restoring infrastructure and opening businesses in their hometowns through the 160 associations of natives.

The participants in the Economic Council debates mentioned that among the instruments for attracting migrants’ savings into the national economy are:  Issuance of VMS to the population that could be purchased even from abroad through the use of electronic signatures; deposits and credits dedicated to migrants such as the creation of real estate management funds, the creation of private pension funds to which the diaspora could contribute; the development of a private health insurance system, eco/tourism and nostalgic tourism.

Economic Council members are expected to deliver the necessary information in the process of developing the innovative methodology for measuring the economic impact of the diaspora beyond remittances. The results of this exercise, as well as proposals will be communicated in early 2022.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.