Tuesday, 11 February 2020
2020-2023 Business Environment Improvement Program Discussed in Government
On February 11, Armenia’s Business Environment Improvement Program for 2020-2023 was discussed in Government, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan.
Tigran Avinyan noted that the evaluations issued by internationally recognized reports are important from the perspective of creating a favorable business environment in the Republic of Armenia, as well as increasing the country’s attractiveness for investments since they help assess the impact of the reforms underway in the country. In this context, the Deputy Prime Minister highlighted the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report, which ranked Armenia 47th among some 190 countries.
A number of reforms were carried out in 2018-2019 with a view to improving the applicable business regulations. According to the report, Armenia has implemented serious reforms over the past few years in the fields of property registration, taxation, foreign trade and power grid connectivity.
Despite the above, in 2020 Armenia’s position deteriorated in the Doing Business report as compared to 2019. One of the main reasons for this is our country’s poor performance under the Protecting Small Investors index, which fell to 120 from last year’s 51 due to a change in the World Bank’s assessment methodology. In addition, Armenia’s position is low in Building Permits and Contract Execution categories.
The Deputy Premier said that irrespective of World Bank’s methodological innovations, the business environment reform should be implemented in a progressive manner in order to ensure higher country positions on a yearly basis. The program of measures to improve Armenia’s business environment consisted of 51 activities in 2019, 26 of which have been completed, work on 6 of them has not yet started, and 19 are underway.
Tigran Avinyan noted that the government agencies should be more attentive and consistent in implementing the proposed activities. He underscored that those responsible for failures shall be held accountable.
The meeting focused on the Action Plan for 2020–2023, which features both short-term and long-term activities, the implementation of which will lead to tangible improvements to the business and investment environment.
Stressing the need for coordinated joint efforts, the Deputy Prime Minister reiterated that all program activities should be carried out in a timely and adequate manner.
