TO OVERCOME FALLOUT FROM GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS SOUTH CAUCASUS SHOULD SECURE TAX-BUDGET STIMULUS: WB
ARKA
Oct 19, 2009
YEREVAN, October 19, /ARKA/. In a last week interview to the Armenian
daily ‘Hayastani Hanrapetutyun’ the World Bank Managing Director, Ms.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in order to overcome and mitigate the fallout
from the global economic crisis the South Caucasus countries should
secure a tax-budget stimulus to neutralize the economic activity fall.
According to her, this can be implemented either through the budget
means or through borrowings from international lending organizations.
She said the success of these steps will be depending on their
tax-budget capacities to increase spending and cut taxes. According
to her, it will be a hard task with reduced Tax collection rates.
>From this point of view, she said, donor assistance to Armenia and
Georgia proved useful, while Azerbaijan used its oil proceeds to
support different government-funded projects.
The World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the
governments should keep in their limelight, during the time of the
crisis, protection of insecure segments of the population. She said
in this sense all the three countries have decided to expand their
social spending.
She also said these governments should work actively to create more
jobs and therefore, pursue more targeted investing policy. She said
investments in irrigation, construction and rehabilitation of rural
and community roads may promote creation and maintenance of new jobs.
According to her, in the current conditions it is important to base on
past achievements as well, to raise the plank of government policies
and support economic competition in the mid-term perspective.