“Elections will have negative impact on economy”
Former Head of the RA Central Bank, economist Bagrat Asatryan says the International Monetary Fund's statement on the slow growth of Armenia's economy came late because it was already clear that the predicted rate (4.2%) had to be revised.
On March 14-27, Head of the IMF mission in Armenia Mark Horton declared that Armenia's economic growth had slowed down due to the globally unfavorable conditions and that the economic growth rate in 2012 would be 3.8% instead of the 4.2%.
"In January, the IMF reviewed the possible growth rates of developing and developed countries and made essential changes by reconsidering the rate of the countries in the Euro zone," said Asatryan.
According to him, the real evaluation of the Armenian government is hidden in the IMF's positive evaluations of the Armenian government.
Asatryan says the government could take the tendencies that are being noticed in the global economy during the confirmation of the 2012 budget in order to avoid additional difficulties.
Bagrat Asatryan believes that the Armenian government will have a hard time reaching the 3.8% indicator and that there will be new revisions of the economic growth rate taking into account several factors, including internal factors.
Asatryan also touched upon the government's decision on declaring an "amnesty" for land and property taxes. We mention that the representative of the IMF Guillermo Tolosa has also given a negative evaluation of that decision.
According to the former Head of the CB, the government's decision was simply an "immoral and unfair way of an electoral bribe", the results of which can be very dangerous.
"Let's say a responsible citizen pays the tax, while the other is irresponsible and has been exempt of paying taxes. Do we encourage irresponsibility? If we have the measures, we should use them to provide funding for more serious programs," mentioned Asatryan.
Asatryan says this can become a bad precedent.
"I myself am a taxpayer and I think it will be better if I don't pay taxes since there will be amnesty. This is a very bad phenomenon, and it isn't by chance that this is being done ahead of the elections. It is bad that the society has the predisposition of taking electoral bribes, but it is worse when the government provokes that. The Armenian government not only provokes that, but imposes the electoral bribe," said Bagrat Asatryan.
