World bank in favor of Armenia’s anti-crisis program

YEREVAN, October 19. / ARKA /. World Bank General Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala supports the Armenian government’s anti-crisis program.

As Okonjo-Iweala reported at a press conference on Sunday, the Armenian government and the economic team of the president of the country properly and promptly respond to the crisis situations and the right fiscal policy in accordance with the circumstances.

In particular, she commended the complete preservation of social expenditures of the state budget of Armenia.
 
As Okonjo-Iweala noted, the world financial crisis affected the economy and led to a reduction in transfers to the republic, tensions and rising unemployment.

According to the National Statistical Service of RA, the unemployment rate in Armenia in January-August 2009 amounted to 6.8% against 6.3% in January-August 2008.

During January-August 2009, Armenia’s banking system received 672.3 million USD by physical entities, which is 35% or 363 million USD less for the same period in 2008.

"Obviously, this led to a reduction in the level of tax collection and reduced the government revenues, but I must say that the Armenian government responded adequately to this," she said.

According to general director of the World Bank, in addition to preserving social security payments, the Government of Armenia is to overcome the negative impact of the global crisis by actively promoting small and medium businesses, and taking steps make the credit lines more accessible to SMEs.

Okonjo-Iweala expressed the willingness of the World Bank to assist the Government of Armenia in these events, as well as in maintaining and building new infrastructures.
In the Armenian economy, a decline of 18.4% was recorded in January-August 2009 over the same period in 2008.–0-