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Oskanian: Program of Government Is Austerity Plan
Member of Parliament Vartan Oskanian, PAP, posted a comment on the
program of government on his Facebook wall.
If growth or austerity, this is an austerity program, says the
ex-foreign minister. To support his point of view, he refers to two
points of the program. First, the government envisages an annual
0.3-0.4% growth of the level of collection of state revenues against
the GDP. It means that the government does not expect actual growth.
It also means that the government is not committed to change,
especially in tax service.
The second point to which Oskanian refers is the lack of any
large-scale infrastructure project(except North-South highway project
which began late and is very slow) that could spur economy. Even the
construction of a nuclear plant has been removed from the project. The
only pro-growth point is the increase of minimum salary to 45,000
drams, which can hardly trigger economic growth.
When viewed against the state budget 2013 where the estimated deficit
it 2.6% of the GDP, the program is clearly an austerity plan, the
ex-foreign minister states.
Unfortunately, the Armenian government is much more conservative than
the IMF representatives who stated in their latest article: `Unless
changes are deep and swift, the positive results that Armenians desire
will also be gradual in coming, if they come at all.'
The Armenian government targets fiscal and financial stability while
Armenia is facing such challenges which require economic growth,
creation of jobs, poverty reduction.
The problem is that the government wants to achieve and maintain
stability by way of economic stagnation whereas stability can be
achieved by means of economic growth.
His suggestions are: boost pensions, relieve tax burden of SMEs,
implement at least one or two major infrastructure projects a year,
finance these by adding internal debt and issue of government bonds,
use the savings of citizens, the assets of the Central Bank, funds
from mandatory car insurance and funded pension, make loans cheaper,
refrain from interventions in the exchange rate of the national
currency.
He notes that such an ambitious program would help create jobs by
means of economic growth to reduce emigration and force the government
carry out structural reforms to implement the program.
19:38 21/05/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/economy/view/29938
Member of Parliament Vartan Oskanian, PAP, posted a comment on the
program of government on his Facebook wall.
If growth or austerity, this is an austerity program, says the
ex-foreign minister. To support his point of view, he refers to two
points of the program. First, the government envisages an annual
0.3-0.4% growth of the level of collection of state revenues against
the GDP. It means that the government does not expect actual growth.
It also means that the government is not committed to change,
especially in tax service.
The second point to which Oskanian refers is the lack of any
large-scale infrastructure project(except North-South highway project
which began late and is very slow) that could spur economy. Even the
construction of a nuclear plant has been removed from the project. The
only pro-growth point is the increase of minimum salary to 45,000
drams, which can hardly trigger economic growth.
When viewed against the state budget 2013 where the estimated deficit
it 2.6% of the GDP, the program is clearly an austerity plan, the
ex-foreign minister states.
Unfortunately, the Armenian government is much more conservative than
the IMF representatives who stated in their latest article: `Unless
changes are deep and swift, the positive results that Armenians desire
will also be gradual in coming, if they come at all.'
The Armenian government targets fiscal and financial stability while
Armenia is facing such challenges which require economic growth,
creation of jobs, poverty reduction.
The problem is that the government wants to achieve and maintain
stability by way of economic stagnation whereas stability can be
achieved by means of economic growth.
His suggestions are: boost pensions, relieve tax burden of SMEs,
implement at least one or two major infrastructure projects a year,
finance these by adding internal debt and issue of government bonds,
use the savings of citizens, the assets of the Central Bank, funds
from mandatory car insurance and funded pension, make loans cheaper,
refrain from interventions in the exchange rate of the national
currency.
He notes that such an ambitious program would help create jobs by
means of economic growth to reduce emigration and force the government
carry out structural reforms to implement the program.
19:38 21/05/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/economy/view/29938