Friday, December 21 2018 16:17

ArmInfo. The concern of the Yerevan office of the World Bank (WB) regarding the suspension of the activities of the Foreign Financial Programs Management Center under  the Ministry of Finance is inappropriate. Acting Minister of Finance  of Armenia Atom Janjughazyan, stated, answering the question of  ArmInfo.

On December 13, the government decided to abolish the Center. Instead  of liquidating the structure in the system of the Ministry of  Finance, there will be a small management, which will deal with the  implementation of 10 foreign financial programs, thereby saving  significant public financial resources.  However, the head of the  State Revenue Committee of Armenia David Ananyan stressed that as  early as November, the World Bank's Yerevan office expressed concern  about the closure of the Center. Deputy Premier Tigran Avinyan, in  turn, asked whether a final agreement was reached with the WB.

Another Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan assured that he spoke  twice with representatives of the World Bank, tomorrow he will again  talk on this topic completely. Acting Minister of Economic  Development and Investments Tigran Khachatryan said, that maybe the  Armenian side did not explain well to the World Bank, therefore they  are concerned. In response, Pashinyan replied that even in September,  instructions were given and there are no signs that these  instructions are being fulfilled: "Why are you not in a hurry to  fulfill the instructions of the Prime Minister, can someone explain?  Who wants to carry out orders of the WB before, let him go and work  in the WB. A government official must fulfill the instructions of the  Prime Minister".

 According to Janjughazyan, the third meeting with representatives of  the WB Yerevan Office took place at the Deputy Prime Minister Mher  Grigoryan. The Acting Minister, he said, was not personally present  at the meeting, but he had the impression that "WB is related to the  issue we were expecting". "The suspension of the Center's activities  remains questionable for the WB. We, on our part, continue to insist  that they speak not about hypothetical problems, but substantively  presented all possible problems in the future, since we are sure that  there will be no problems, "said the Chief Financier of Armenia. At  the same time, Janjughazyan expressed hope that the Armenian  government and the World Bank will not return to the issue, since  there will be no problems as a result of the suspension of the  Center's activities.

In general, according to the Chief Financier, the WB's concern would  be appropriate if the order of the 1990s continued to function in  Armenia, when the legislative field, particularly in the area of  procurement, was opened and national procedures were not developed.  "Today we are starting a new phase and we expect that with our  partners we will come to a situation where national procedures will  be applied, and not the so-called WB special procedures," he said. As  Janjughazyan stressed, the Armenian side's initiative is based on the  fact that Armenia is a member of the WTO Procurement Agreement, which  means compliance with international quality standards.

To recall, during the government meeting, presenting the draft  decision, the Acting Minister of Finance of Armenia Atom Janjughazyan  said that this measure is a logical continuation of state policy  aimed at increasing the efficiency of the public administration  system. In turn, Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that  various offices for the implementation of credit programs and state  non-profit organizations are sources of corruption, illegal  enrichment and are subject to liquidation.