"Armenia is taking small steps like a turtle"
"Even though Armenia's economic indicator published in Forbes magazine is an insult, there has been economic regression in Armenia," says doctor of economic sciences, professor Tatul Manaseryan.
"It would be wrong to say that Forbes is wrong and that Armenia has no flaws. We Armenians know the state of the economy. The government should clearly state the country's problems and the problems that have nothing to do with the global economic crisis," said the economist.
According to Republican MP Manvel Badeyan, nobody should treat the evaluations given by Forbes and other rating agencies seriously.
"The motives behind providing information have nothing to do with objective analysis. Those agencies' statements are an obscene way of fighting for their image." The MP says this is an overt information war.
Tatul Manaseryan links the commotion with the lack of impartial information.
"When we lack impartial ratings, we are forced to depend on foreign sources that can be interpreted differently. We shouldn't trust the rating agencies' evaluations," said the economist.
Manaseryan isn't inclined to think that this was an order since, according to him, Forbes would never risk losing its image for a small country like Armenia.
Tatul Manaseryan agrees with the regression, the reduction of the gross domestic product and inflation, but doesn't agree with the data regarding the balance of payments in 2009.
According to the economist, though there is small progress in agriculture, it is a shame that Armenia is taking small steps like a turtle. "Construction is not developing. As long as local production remains underdeveloped, as an importing country, we will become a country living off debt. We don't even have a high level of competitiveness in the service sphere."
The Republican MP shares the view that Armenia's economy has regressed in the last three years and that it has not been "intuitively."
