OREANDA-NEWS. October 06, 2009. As the Vice-Premier, the Minister of Economy Valerie Lazar has noted, some of the schemes based on the decisions of the government and line ministries, can be quickly eliminated. The annulations of other schemes will require more time because it would be necessary to change many laws.

The head of the Ministry of Economy said that the monopoly on import of meat and fish products has been made possible through the adoption of subjective and groundless decisions on issuing permits for import of these products only by the limited number of economic agents close to the authorities.

The permits were issued to approximately 30% of the total required output. As the result, insufficient amounts of fish and meat products were imported to the country and, as the result, the prices have doubled. So, this fact has damaged both consumers who buy products at the inflated prices, and the country's budget, which sustained significant losses from import. Valerie Lazar also noted that introduced requirements for mandatory labeling of mineral water, medicines and alcohol have led to the additional producers’ costs and higher prices for the goods.

The increased cost of production has led to the growth of prices. Big problems were also created by the requirement for mandatory certification of the each batch of the imported goods. Trucks with goods were forced to stand at the customs before receiving necessary certificates. This situation has stimulated the sharp corruption growth. According to Valerie Lazar, a double certification of wine for export and mandatory labeling of the wine production have also increased the production costs by 10-15%.

The Prime Minister Vladimir Filat has charged the Ministry of Economy to take measures in order to accelerate elimination of all identified schemes monopolizing the market.