Moldova business survey points to stable Q3, rising price pressures
Moldovan businesses expect broadly stable conditions in the third quarter of 2026, with only moderate optimism on sales and prices, according to a National Bureau of Statistics (BNS) business tendency survey of enterprise managers. Employment is expected to hold roughly steady.
The survey measures sentiment, not forecast growth: each figure below is a balance of opinion — the share of managers expecting an increase minus the share expecting a decrease — not a projected percentage change. On that scale, the general economic situation stands at a balance of +5, sales revenue at +7, and prices at +9, while employment sits at -5, consistent with the "relatively stable" outlook managers reported.
Manufacturing is the most optimistic sector: its activity balance reaches +16, with sales at +15 and prices at +10. Employment there is expected to hold steady, at +1.
Construction managers also see moderate gains in activity (+7) and sales (+12), with employment steady (-3). But construction prices carry the highest balance of any sector, at +21.
Retail and services report the most subdued outlook: a balance of +3 for the general situation and +4 for sales, alongside a balance of +7 for prices and -6 for employment.
Larger firms are the most optimistic by size. Companies with 250 or more employees post balances of +14 for activity, +17 for sales, +8 for employment and +6 for prices. Medium-sized firms (50–249 employees) report +12, +10 and +6 for activity, sales and prices respectively, with employment steady at -1. Small (10–49 employees) and micro firms (up to 9 employees) were more muted, both posting an activity balance of +5, alongside falling employment balances (-6 and -4) and rising price balances (+7 and +11).
Beneath the overall stability, demand remains a weak spot: 54% of enterprises surveyed said they faced constraints on their activity in the second quarter of 2026. Insufficient market demand was the most common problem, cited by 33.9% of respondents, followed by financial difficulties (21.8%), a shortage of skilled labour (19%), the war in Ukraine (8.6%), and limited availability of the space or equipment they needed (6%).
Translation by Iurie Tataru
