Economist decries corruption among Armenian authorities
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Armenian economist Tatul Manaseryan has said that post-revolutionary Armenian authorities are involved in corrupt practices.
"Of deep concern is the fact that in the activities of the current [Armenian] authorities there are corruption practices, which are especially pronounced when inexperienced people are arbitrarily appointed to senior positions without holding competitions... As a result, the leaders of many areas do not even have a clue about their sphere [of activity]," Manaseryan said in an interview with Armenian media.
Manaseryan said that the roadmap for implementing the main directions of the Armenian government’s economic program was not yet available.
Outlining his vision of the situation, he expressed regret that there are practically no bright personalities in the Armenian government who would have the ability to hear and adequately respond to certain points of views.
"We do not have time to wait for these people to gain knowledge and experience. But the main thing is that these appointments are presented to us under the guise of combating corruption. Although in fact, such a mechanism can be assessed as a new form of corruption. This is not my personal opinion. This assessment is also given by international anti-corruption structures, in particular, Transparency International," he stated.
He believes that while the solvency of most of the Armenian population shows a steady decline, it is impossible to talk about the "economic revolution".
"The reason for the decrease in the population’s solvency is that people's incomes are not growing, with the exception of government officials and parliamentarians who receive generous bonuses and high salaries. But for ordinary people, incomes remained unchanged. Therefore, people had to apply for loans to banks and credit organizations to solve their everyday problems, which entailed a significant increase in retail lending,” the economist explained.
Noting the statistical data, Manaseryan said that the rate of return on loans has decreased. "That is, people began to borrow more, and they are able to repay much less. This is already a big problem," he claimed.
The economist believes that introducing a flat income taxation scale is one of the miscalculated steps the Armenian government has taken.
"While a poverty level in the country is at a fairly high level, the new mechanism will lead to even greater social polarization of society," Manaseryan emphasized.
Thus, contrary to the promises of the new Armenia government, instead of increasing the welfare of the country's citizens, the standard of living of the Armenian population continues to slide down.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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