The World Bank today released its Doing Business-2020 report, in which Armenia regressed and fell behind. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government, and asked the Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan to clarify the situation.

“Armenia has 74.5 points in this year’s result, up 1.3 points from 2018,” Khachatryan said. “That is, we have made progress compared to last year as a result of our reforms.

“We have made progress in paying taxes. This was due to the fact that we envision a VAT refund not only for exporters, but also when the organization has accumulated debits for capital expenditure.

“We have made positive progress in terms of urban planning permits, as well as in foreign trade."

He emphasized that there is also a second classification of how the countries are arranged.

“We had the 41st position there last year, and this year we are the 47th. This means that although we are improving on ourselves, in the whole picture of the assessment, 46 countries are closer to the first position,” he said. “This is due to the fact that for the first time this year the WB changed its methodology to calculate the index called small shareholder protection. It shows to what extent our legal regulations protect the interests of small shareholders. We have made significant changes there.

“This year the World Bank also takes into account the number of private listed companies in the securities market that sell shares. That is, the stock market establishment has become a basis for evaluation. That's why we have dropped from 51st to 120th with this indicator. As a result, our relative position has turned from 41 to 47.”

The Minister of Economy noted that if we shifted the current valuation methodology to last year, we would still be 47 as we were last year.

The Prime Minister stated that this is not bad news in principle.

“There have been unprecedented events in Armenia since last year; several companies have issued securities, which is a prerequisite for transactions in the securities stock exchange,” he said. “If that is the reason for the retreat, we are in the process of preparation. This should, of course, also be an alarm to make the work in the securities stock exchange more active. "

State Revenue Committee Chairman Davit Ananyan noted that we have made progress by 30 points in the tax collection indicator, to the 52nd from the 82nd place.

Governor of the Central Bank Artur Javadyan in his turn said that in the published report a technical mistake was found, and if the mistake is corrected, we will take the 37th place.