Partnership for Development Centre The political and economic
situation in Moldova – one of the weakest European countries in
attracting Foreign Direct Investment – is critical and sets
thescene for long-term development trends. Progress towards the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is currently at risk owing
to the impact of the economic crisis. Out of 28 national targets
set by the Republic of Moldova, sixare likely to be missed by
2015. Efforts to strengthen civil societyinvolvement in
development policies have been quite effective, increasing the
potentialfor independent analyses and diagnoses of
importantnational trends. Although on the surface Moldova’s
economic performance over the last few years looks quite
successful - with an average GDP growth rate of 5% between 2006
and 2008 and monetary and fiscal indicators kept in check - this
growth was based largely on consumption, mostly of imported
goods, and fuelled by remittances from abroad, which accounted
for 30% of GDP in 2008 (among the highest in