It doesn't matter, the 37th or the 47th out of 200 countries can't be essential for the Republic of Armenia. Economist and former MP Vardan Bostanjyan told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am about Armenia's position in the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 report.
“Whether it is in the 37th, 47th or anywhere, it means that the financial situation in the Republic of Armenia does not contain risks. In essence, it means that in terms of financial stability we have a bearable situation, if not a miracle, but at least that situation does not have the prospect of a financial crisis or major financial downturns,”he said.
According to the economist, the financial system in the Republic of Armenia is still mainly conditioned solely by the banking system, where almost 85% of financial assets are in the banks, which means that the financial market of our country is unilaterally developing at the moment.
According to him, in any case, the existing banking system is able to maintain financial stability in Armenia.
And the World Bank, according to Bostanjyan, presents this report with a certain methodology, which may not be true.
"International financial organizations, in essence, use a certain methodology to present the financial and economic performance of countries in general, which in many cases have little to do with reality. Depending on this circumstance, it may be that Javadyan meant this because they collect general indices, certain indices that are characteristic of, for example, individual countries, may not be taken into account in their methodology, which may be a misstatement,” he added.
At the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan demanded from the Ministry of Economy an explanation as to why Armenia had dropped in the Doing Business 2020 report. At the end of the discussion, Central Bank of Armenia Governor Artur Javadyan stated that there was simply a technical mistake, which would put Armenia in 37th place if corrected.
In a conversation with the Voice of America, World Bank's senior Private Sector Development Specialist Valentina Saltane said the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 report contains no inaccuracies.