OREANDA-NEWS. August 08, 2014. Moldova is the most exposed country in the Eastern Europe to a sharp slowdown of Russian economy, which is currently facing sanctions and escalation of the conflict in the region, according to an analysis signed by experts of the International Monetary Fund.

Russia is not a major export market for most European countries. Therefore, a slower growth in Russia would not be probably so sensitive. Yet, for many countries, “such as Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Baltic countries, the exports of which on the Russian market exceed 5 per cent of the GDP, the impact might be significant.”.

For such countries as Belarus and Moldova, which cover one hundred percent domestic consumption of gas with imports from Russia, they are of critical importance, the IMF experts said.

They said Moldova was vulnerable in other areas in relation with Russia and last but not least, the bank system, investments, money transfer to private people, imports and exports.

The IMF experts said that the countries in the Eastern Europe with the tightest relations with Russia could be seriously affected by a sharp slowdown of the economic growth in Russia, which is currently facing sanctions and counter-sanctions.

In last June, the World Bank reduced the economic growth forecast for Russia to 0.5 per cent in 2014 against a 2.2-per cent forecast from January. Ukraine’s economy will record a 5-per cent decline. Escalation of the conflict would lead to a greater decrease.

The Rospotrebnadzor Russian Sanitary Service banned imports of wines from Moldova since 10 September 2013; as a result, producers have already failed to get incomes worth about 60 million dollars. The Rosselkhoznadzor service (Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance) put an embargo on Moldovan fruits and cans on the Russian market on 21 July. According to the National Statistics Bureau, the Moldovan exports to Russia decreased by 28.6 per cent in the first five months of 2014, and their share in the overall Moldovan exports dropped from 28.4 per cent in January-May 2013 to 19.9 per cent on the same period of 2014.