Research: Corruption hinders SMEs (video)
Union of Employers of Armenia carried out research among 300 enterprises. 51.4 % of them have been affected by the negative consequences of corruption, 41.7 % considers that the Government doesn’t ensure the legislative part of its activities, and 60 % isn’t aware that there is an independent anti-corruption control in Armenia. During “Favorable business environment for sustainable enterprises” conference Hrant Bagratyan notes, “We don’t have 3.1 % level of economic activity, as it has been announced. Those are simply numbers.” He thinks that the biggest obstacle to Armenia’s economic development is corruption, which is often financed by the authorities. The economist remembers that last year the Government set very high customs duty on some cars imported to Armenia, for which it didn’t have any right: “When they were told that they had no right to act like that, they answered that they were solving the issue of filling the budget. Yet, very often we perceive corruption in other way.” He thinks that in order to ensure high indicators in the economy, effective actions must be taken, serious reforms must be carried out first of all by rooting out corruption.
