NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS FUND BOARD OF TRUSTEES MET IN SESSION
Satu rday, 13 February 2010
The 14th session of National Competitiveness Fund Board of Trustees
started with BOT chairman, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s opening
remarks. The Prime Minister informed the council members on the
results of his government’s anti-crisis program for 2009.
He noted in particular: "Signs of recovery could be noticed late
last year. We were able to curb the recorded 18.4% economic fall
and close the year with a 14.4% downturn, with the GDP rising to
AMD 3 trillion 165 billion. As a whole, industry dropped by 7.8%,
and what is impressing is that mining industry rose by 7.6%. 11.2% of
the overall 14.4% downturn was due to shrinking construction caused
by a 25% fall in the building sector which constituted about 30% of
the GDP. At the same time, certain growth was recorded in metallurgy
with a 20% rise in the production of Aluminum.
Tigran Sargsyan emphasized the 17% growth in the field of information
technologies, caused the appearance of the third operator and a 12%
increase in the number of sector entities. The Prime Minister said FY
2009 was particular in that retail trade and services rose by 1 and
1.3 percentage points respectively amid 14.4% economic downturn. A
series of factors have brought about the mentioned 1% increase in
retail trade. First of all, black economy has been reduced thanks
to a massive use of cash registers. As a result, greater turnover
was recorded in this area. A second reason is that the State has
considerably increased public spending. In particular, pensions went
up 16%, welfare benefits – 12%, inclusive of child allowances which
rose to AMD 18,000 from 3000. Lump sum benefits for those families
with three and more children were brought up to AMD 430,000 from
300,000. All this made it possible for us to close the year with 3000
more child births than in 2008. This higher birth rate was also due
the reform of maternity assistance. Service quality was upgraded
about threefold last year. A USAID-conducted survey revealed that
corruption in this area has decreased to 20% from 80%.
The head of government predicted a 1.2% increase in the cost of
budget-funded programs of 2010. Tigran Sargsyan advised that this
January 5bn more revenue was collected as compared to the same period
of 2008 exceeding the monthly target by AMD 2bn. This trend will be
maintained during the month of February.
The Prime Minister noted that the government’s anti-crisis program
will have greater impact during the second and third quarters of 2010.
He further advised that the budget deficit-GDP ratio is supposed go
down gradually under a medium-term program designed in cooperation
with the IMF.
The meeting next discussed the results of the feasibility study
carried out for the Center of Education and Research Project, the
proposed merger of the Armenian Agency of Tourism Development and
the National Competitiveness Fund, as well as the program of tourism
development. Reference was made of the ongoing cooperation between
the National Competitiveness Fund and the USAID.
The Board of Trustees further looked at the findings of
a NCF-implemented study concerning the prospects of oncology
development in Armenia, as well as the government’s decision to
purchase a cyclotron.
The discussion was attended by McKeanzy Ltd Germany office consultant
Reinhard Wihels and representative of Russian Mediacrat Arman Jilavyan.
In conclusion, the meeting discussed NCF’s 3-year activity planning,
current year budget and expected outcome.
Later on the meeting was honored by RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s
presence.