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Moldova’s rich black soil makes agriculture the foundation of its economy. The country is an important regional producer of grapes and grape products, and its orchards produce significant amounts of fruit, including plums, apricots, cherries, and peaches. Fruit production is concentrated in the north, in the central region, and in the Nistru River area. Tobacco is also an important commercial crop. Sugar beets are grown throughout the republic and provide raw material for a substantial (although antiquated) sugar-refining industry and sunflowers are grown for their oil. Cereal crops, including wheat, are grown widely (corn is the leading grain) and are used for domestic consumption, export, and animal feed.

When Moldova was part of the USSR, Soviet central planners made its primary role one of supplying food products to the rest of the Soviet Union. Like many other former Soviet republics, Moldova has experienced economic difficulties. Since its economy was highly dependent on the rest of the former Soviet Union for energy and raw materials, the breakdown in trade following the breakup of the Soviet Union had a serious effect, exacerbated at times by drought and civil unrest.With support from international organizations, Moldova initiated widespread privatization and strict monetary controls soon after independence. The policies contained inflation—which had resulted in prices increasing by as much as 20 times annually in the early 1990s—to one of the lowest rates in the former Soviet republics.

A privatization program that commenced in 1993 has privatized almost 80% of all housing units and nearly 2,000 small, medium, and large enterprises. Moldova was among the first of the former Soviet republics to allow private ownership of farmland. As a result of the program "Pamînt" ("land"), completed in 2000, most of the farmland was privatized from state to private ownership.

The gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the value of goods and service produced, was $4.75 billion in 2007. The GDP real growth rate for 2007 is 3.0%. The growth rate is lower than in 2006 because Moldova suffered from a severe drought during much of 2007 and this caused hundreds of millions of dollars in agriculture sector losses.

Since 2000 the economic growth has been steady and the country’s GDP growth is positive. Below are the key economic indicators for the period 2000 to 2007:

Moldova’s main trade partners are Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Italy and Germany. The top products imported by Moldova are gas, oil, coal, steel, machinery and equipment, chemical products, textiles, foodstuffs, automobiles, and other consumer durables. The top products exported are foodstuffs, wine, textiles, clothing, footwear and machinery. In 2007 Moldova has registered an increase of trade deficit (48%) reaching $2.35 billion. 

Most of the energy resources are imported from Ukraine (electricity, fuels), Russia (gas, fuels) and Romania (fuels). All natural gas and fuels are imported. 70% of total electrical energy power consumed in Moldova is imported from Ukraine and only 30% is produced in Moldova.

Moldova continues to be subject to Russian economic pressure. In 2005, Russia enacted a ban on Moldovan agricultural products and in 2006, it banned imports of Moldovan wines. The wine ban has been particularly painful because, prior to the ban, Moldovan wines accounted for a third of the country's exports and 80% of wine exports went to Russia. Although Russian President Putin announced an end to the wine ban in November 2006, Russia had still not resumed importing Moldovan wine until late in the year in 2007. In January 2006, Russian energy giant Gazprom temporarily cut off natural gas deliveries to Ukraine and Moldova - which is almost completely dependent on its neighbors for energy - and subsequently doubled the price of gas to Moldova. 

Moldova has survived many of the most severe hardships of its transformation to a free-market economy; however, the country’s economic vitality still remains dependent upon the size of its crop harvest, import of energy resources and remittances sent from Moldovans working abroad.