Government – private sector dialogue to help eliminate main limits on Armenia’s economic growth – report

YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. Cooperation between the government and the private sector can help eliminate main constraints on economy growth in Armenia, says the national competitiveness report for 2013-2014.

In particular, the key limits are imperfect competition environment, lack of new markets, low education level and one-sided development of the financial system, according to the report.

These problems can be solved if a fair framework is created, a more expanded industrial policy is implemented and large-scale investments are made in education and comprehensive development of the financial system, said Manuk Yerghnyan, head of Economy and Values Research Center.

According to Yerghnyan, Armenia’s economic growth is delayed mainly due to “black” economy and related problems, for instance problems in taxation and customs administration, lack of antimonopoly measures, insufficient levels of private property protection and transparency in state procurements.

Despite the problems, Armenia has achieved a quite good level of infrastructure development and is the 67th among 148 countries on general infrastructure development in global competitiveness rating, Yerghnyan said.

The authors of the report said only combined efforts of the government and the private sector could provide tangible results.

The presentation of the report was attended also by Armenia’s premier Tigran Sargsyan who agreed with the findings, but said creation of a fair competitive environment is a priority. For instance, he said, if no equal competition conditions are set, highly qualified specialists migrate.

The report is prepared by the Economy and Values Research Center, together with EV Consulting, with assistance from USAID, GIZ, Armenia’s National Competitiveness Fund and the Asian Development Bank. –0--