December 26 2003, 17:14

Moldovan government freed imports of food wheat, wheat flour, feed wheat and rice from VAT and customs duties

Moldovan government at its sitting December 24 decided till July 1, 2004 to suspend charging value added tax and customs duties at imports of milling and feed wheat, wheat flour and feed rice, BASA-PRESS agency informed. No VAT will be charged at further sales of these products as well.

The sole exemption of wheat imports from VAT, introduced from September 5, 2003, has not solved the problem of deficit in domestic market, the news agency writes. The amount of wheat imports to the country in September-December constituted 63,900 tonnes. To the government's opinion, local businesses have no free financial resources for quickly meeting the import demand.

The 2003 wheat crop in Moldova was just 101,600 tonnes, which is 10 times less than in 2002. Domestic deficit of milling wheat was estimated in 400,000 tonnes, that of feed wheat - in 600,000 tonnes. This caused a 65.7 percent price growth for wheat flour in July-October and the recent upsurge of prices for bread at 30-60 percent.