“As a scientist I am more concerned over the scientific results in the context of the 2011 draft budget. With a science development program lacking, they are insufficient,” Doctor of Economy, Professor Tatul Manaseryan told NEWS.am. It would be wrong to speak of scientific development, with science budget constituting only 1% of the total on-budget expenditures.

“Among the CIS member-countries which are in a similar situation, I would like to single out Kazakhstan, where science budget is equal to 5% of the country’s GDP, not budget. This is evidence science is among priority fields for the state,” Manaseryan said.

As regards descriptions of the 2011 budget, the expert said: “I consider it wrong to describe the budget. Some try to describe it as ‘shadow wholeness’, which is not the case. The budget must serve as an economic development program and one of the stages of long-term goals. People describing the budget do not show a serious attitude to it, as economic policy cannot be described.”

According to him, development must be the aim of any policy. The budget must be aimed at recovering, stabilizing and developing. “First, we should speak of recovery rates, reach the pre-crisis level and stabilize the economy. Only after that can we aim at development. It is early to qualify the budget as a development budget,” Manaseryan said.