ArmInfo.Deputy Minister of Economy of Armenia Varos Simonyan and Arman Hovnanyan received a delegation led by Damien Shiels, Head of Consulting Programs for Europe and Central Asia, International Finance Corporation (IFC - an international financial institution, part of the World Bank).
According to the press service of the Ministry of Economy, Simonyan thanked IFC for cooperation in various areas. The IFC Group, in turn, presented the implementation of consulting programs, as well as industry studies of the economy, in particular in the fields of agriculture, tourism, high technology, in order to attract investment. IFC experts presented their assessments on the legislative field governing investment, in particular, on the development of a legislative package on public-private partnerships and foreign investment.
The parties discussed the work on preparing instructions on attracting investment in the tourism sector of Armenia. They also addressed issues related to investment promotion and institutional change. Armenia has been a member of the World Bank since 1992. In total, the WB provided Armenia with funds in the form of loans and grants of $ 2.3 billion. As a rule, one third of these funds is spent on reimbursing the budget deficit and another third on financing infrastructure projects. The World Bank (WB) Board of Directors on March 28, 2019 approved a new credit line for Armenia at $ 500 million to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth and improve the well-being of the country's population within the framework of the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) program at 2019-2023.
According to the official statement of the WB, the document is fully consistent with the 5-year government program. In particular, CPF is based on a new vision of the new government and involves overcoming barriers to the development of the country, reflecting a new political will aimed at deepening the reform process by combating corruption, strengthening the rule of law and investing in human capital. The report said that for the effective implementation of the program, the complementary strengths of the WB structures will be used - the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). In order to overcome poverty and promote global prosperity, the World Bank through CPF intends to assist Armenia in three areas - stimulating export and enterprise competitiveness, developing human capital and equality, and sustainable management of the environment and natural resources. Considering limited fiscal resources, the partnership program will be based on three main principles: activating private sector partners in attracting priority investments, analyzing areas in which Armenia can benefit from the new, progressive experience of other countries, and adapting these approaches to specific needs of the country, and the optimization of the existing portfolio, bringing it in line with the new development goals of the country and expanding support opportunities.