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"In Armenia, A Task Is Undertaken To Make Certain People Rich," About The Shadow Economy In The Republic Of Armenia
http://www.aravot.am/en/2012/11/14/130371/
NOVEMBER 14, 2012 17:27
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report entitled
Caucasus and Central Asia: Regional Economic Outlook the other day,
according to which the level of shadow economy in Armenia was one
of the highest not only in the South Caucasus region, but also among
the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia even in accordance
with the research conducted as early as in 2008. According to the
report, the shadow economy in Armenia accounts for 35 percent of gross
domestic product. www.aravot.am inquired of Armenian experts whether
he IMF report reflected the objective reality in the mentioned field
of Armenia.
Vahagn Khachatryan, a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC),
said during a conversation with us that those figures "will surely
be higher and not lower" and added: "In reality, they avoid doing
more concrete work. It just means to really assess the shadow economy
in the country, since they measure gross domestic product, but they
don't want to measure the shadow economy, it is not that they cannot,
they are just not instructed to do that."
Mr. Khachatryan mentioned that the IMF had its methodology, which
is the same in all countries. Then, he recalled the digital data of
Georgia, particularly the fact that in 2006, 2007, the shadow economy
in Georgia was more than 50 percent and the numbers are lower now.
Talking about the digital data of Armenia in the report, V.
Khachatryan assessed them in the following manner, "35 percent for
Armenia is low; the shadow economy percentage is higher in Armenia."
In response to our question whether the measures taken by the
government of the Republic of Armenia were adequate to the worrying
picture shown by the international organization,
Mr. Khachatryan said, "Gagik Minasyan, Vache Gabrielyan and other
representatives of the government say that it is impossible to measure
the shadow economy. It is not correct to give such answers. It is very
clear - there are respective methods to measure. According to those
measurements, the shadow economy in Armenia is more than 50 percent.
And if they measure correctly, it will mean that the economic policy in
the Republic of Armenia should be pursued in a way that will eliminate
the taxation system, as a result of which one of the indexes should be
correlation between taxes and gross domestic product. To measure how
big the tax burden is in the legislature, how much money it will allow
to collect in taxes and taking that into account, to decide whether it
is collected or not. If it is 35 percent, it means that this amount
of taxes is not collected. Therefore, a task to make the Armenian
economy open, competitive and not monopolistic is not undertaken. A
task is undertaken to make certain people rich. In that case, incidents
related to buffalo meat and pensions will still take place."
Gagik Minasyan, the chairman of the fiscal, budgetary and economic
issues standing committee of the National Assembly, didn't wish to
make a long comment on the report. He just noted, "That report is a
bit unclear for me, since the numbers regarding the Uzbekistan shadow
economy were thrice lower than those of Ukraine. It confused me,
how can they get such numbers?"
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
http://www.aravot.am/en/2012/11/14/130371/
NOVEMBER 14, 2012 17:27
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report entitled
Caucasus and Central Asia: Regional Economic Outlook the other day,
according to which the level of shadow economy in Armenia was one
of the highest not only in the South Caucasus region, but also among
the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia even in accordance
with the research conducted as early as in 2008. According to the
report, the shadow economy in Armenia accounts for 35 percent of gross
domestic product. www.aravot.am inquired of Armenian experts whether
he IMF report reflected the objective reality in the mentioned field
of Armenia.
Vahagn Khachatryan, a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC),
said during a conversation with us that those figures "will surely
be higher and not lower" and added: "In reality, they avoid doing
more concrete work. It just means to really assess the shadow economy
in the country, since they measure gross domestic product, but they
don't want to measure the shadow economy, it is not that they cannot,
they are just not instructed to do that."
Mr. Khachatryan mentioned that the IMF had its methodology, which
is the same in all countries. Then, he recalled the digital data of
Georgia, particularly the fact that in 2006, 2007, the shadow economy
in Georgia was more than 50 percent and the numbers are lower now.
Talking about the digital data of Armenia in the report, V.
Khachatryan assessed them in the following manner, "35 percent for
Armenia is low; the shadow economy percentage is higher in Armenia."
In response to our question whether the measures taken by the
government of the Republic of Armenia were adequate to the worrying
picture shown by the international organization,
Mr. Khachatryan said, "Gagik Minasyan, Vache Gabrielyan and other
representatives of the government say that it is impossible to measure
the shadow economy. It is not correct to give such answers. It is very
clear - there are respective methods to measure. According to those
measurements, the shadow economy in Armenia is more than 50 percent.
And if they measure correctly, it will mean that the economic policy in
the Republic of Armenia should be pursued in a way that will eliminate
the taxation system, as a result of which one of the indexes should be
correlation between taxes and gross domestic product. To measure how
big the tax burden is in the legislature, how much money it will allow
to collect in taxes and taking that into account, to decide whether it
is collected or not. If it is 35 percent, it means that this amount
of taxes is not collected. Therefore, a task to make the Armenian
economy open, competitive and not monopolistic is not undertaken. A
task is undertaken to make certain people rich. In that case, incidents
related to buffalo meat and pensions will still take place."
Gagik Minasyan, the chairman of the fiscal, budgetary and economic
issues standing committee of the National Assembly, didn't wish to
make a long comment on the report. He just noted, "That report is a
bit unclear for me, since the numbers regarding the Uzbekistan shadow
economy were thrice lower than those of Ukraine. It confused me,
how can they get such numbers?"
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN