"The investigation outlines how Tubca entered parliament 5 years ago with modest earnings and property and is today on the verge of becoming a euro millionaire."
Was your usage of the euro here for the benefit of your international readership, or is it common practice in Moldova to denominate large sums of money/value in euros?
No, it is common here to denominate any large sum in "valuta" aka "hard currency." This is a Soviet naming convention whereby Soviet and Communist currency was called "denge" (cash) but this was differentiated from dollars or marks or pounds which would be valuta. Exchanges here today still use this naming convention.
So basically, the world is linguistically broken into "hard" and "soft" currencies. The Moldovan lei has had a tough run, but been amazingly stable given all that has been thrown at it. That said, no one buys apartments or cars in lei - that's all hard currency. Go back 10 years it might have been denominated in dollars. Now it is 100% euros. The transaction is often still in lei - but the price is settled in Euros and then subject to a conversion. For large sums, people prefer euros because it's less heft.
The only exception is the government which is legally bound to deal in lei for almost everything domestically. So if you have a shop and rent a government owned building the contract is 100% in lei. That uncertainty is offset by a likely 1 year bound for the contract vs 5-10 years for a private sector contract in euros.
"The investigation outlines how Tubca entered parliament 5 years ago with modest earnings and property and is today on the verge of becoming a euro millionaire."
Was your usage of the euro here for the benefit of your international readership, or is it common practice in Moldova to denominate large sums of money/value in euros?
Hey Benjamin,
No, it is common here to denominate any large sum in "valuta" aka "hard currency." This is a Soviet naming convention whereby Soviet and Communist currency was called "denge" (cash) but this was differentiated from dollars or marks or pounds which would be valuta. Exchanges here today still use this naming convention.
So basically, the world is linguistically broken into "hard" and "soft" currencies. The Moldovan lei has had a tough run, but been amazingly stable given all that has been thrown at it. That said, no one buys apartments or cars in lei - that's all hard currency. Go back 10 years it might have been denominated in dollars. Now it is 100% euros. The transaction is often still in lei - but the price is settled in Euros and then subject to a conversion. For large sums, people prefer euros because it's less heft.
The only exception is the government which is legally bound to deal in lei for almost everything domestically. So if you have a shop and rent a government owned building the contract is 100% in lei. That uncertainty is offset by a likely 1 year bound for the contract vs 5-10 years for a private sector contract in euros.
Hope that helps a bit!