Support on behalf of Moldova's government for crisis-hit enterprises breath of air

Chisinau, 4 January /MOLDPRES/ - The enterprises which reduce their working schedule as a result of the crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine or other emergency situations can benefit from support on behalf of the government. This support was established for the first time ever in November 2021. Thus, 50 per cent of the salary of the employees involved in the reduced working schedule was provided from the state budget. ‘’This is like a breath of air, when the money flows are zero,’’ the manager of a beneficiary company said, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.     

The Cricova-Vin company as 270 employees, most of whom are employed at the tourism department – they are guides who speak more languages and organize excursions, cooks at the restaurant which works only for tourists, waiters, drivers of vehicles used for moving in cellar, etc. In the first half of 2022, when the war in Ukraine started, the flow of tourists decreased significantly. The employees of the tourism department were placed in the reduced regime of work.    

„The staff is the most important component in the company. Therefore, it is necessary that we preserve the staff,’’ Alexandru Alexeev, the director of the Cricova-Vin stock company, daughter company of the Cricova enterprise, has said. The enterprise asked for and benefited from assistance on behalf of the state twice in 2022, in order to be able to pay salaries to 187 employees placed in reduced regime of work. ‘’In this way, we preserved the staff and the most important thing, we were able to resume the work when the flow of tourists grew,’’ Alexandru Alexeev said.    

Under the Government Decision 133 from 10 November 2021, the reduced regime of work can be established for a period of three months in a row, but not more than five months per year.  The procedure is simple: the employees fill in a form, on their own responsibility, which they submit to the singe desk of electronic reporting - www.raportare.gov.md, five working days before establishing the reduced regime of work at the latest. Based on the form and the declaration of the employer, submitted in electronic format, the National Employment Agency issues a decision on the acceptance or refusal.     

In 2022, three economic agents asked for help: Cvin-Com from Ialoveni, Moldagrotehnica of Balti and Cricova-Vin; the reasons for this were the state of emergency, of siege and of war, as well as difficulties of support with raw material and energy.        

„The Labour and Social Protection Ministry (MMPS) established, for the first time ever, such a mechanism of employers’ subsidization, which established a reduced regime of work for economic reasons or as a result of the emergency state. For the economic agent to preserve its employees on the period when the enterprise has a smaller volume of work, the government comes up with a support which covers a part of the employees’ salaries. About 500 employees have benefited from help since the implementation of this measure. We allocated about 800,000 lei to this end,’’ a state secretary at MMPS, Felicia Bechtoldt, said.       

„This assistance is just as a breath of air for the economic agents which are in a complicated situation. When the money flows are zero, one has no possibility to provide sometimes even a half of the salary to the employees and they, for their part, have families, children or people for whom they take care. That is why, this support on behalf of the government for crisis situations is welcome,’’ Alexandru Alexeev noted. 

Employers can further ask for help for the payment of salaries to the employees placed in reduced regime of work, through filling in a form on the website, www.raportare.gov.md.  

Photo: Government