BENEFIT INSTEAD OF DEBT
Lena Badeyan

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| 12:20:14 | 15-10-2005 | Politics |

In the opinion of economist Eduard Aghadjanov, the program of returning
the deposits is not an economic but a populist step and the decision
has all the chances to remain on paper.

The budget for 2006 provides for a sum of $140 million to be allocated
for the reimbursement of the deposits. “I was always surprised how
inattentiveness of our authorities towards this issue”, he says. In
his opinion the government will not be able to return the deposits
with the means of donor organizations. The economist also noted that
in 14 states the deposits have been already returned.

The soon return of deposits seems unreal Eduard Aghadjanov, however
he is not pessimistic. The authorities have undertaken a serious
step forward.

According to his calculations shadow economy in Armenia makes
50%. He thinks that the authorities decided to arouse the issue on
the threshold of the constitutional referendum.