Tuesday, October 8 2019 15:01

ArmInfo. Armenia entered the ranking of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) "Foreign Direct Investment Regulatory Restrictiveness Index"  (FDI) for the first time, taking the 10th place among 69 countries. 

On October 8, Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia  Arman Hovnanyan told journalists on the sidelines of a working  meeting in the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia with  representatives of the OECD delegation.

He emphasized that Armenia began to cooperate with the OECD, starting  in 2014. "I should note that for the first time we registered quite  good results," Hovnanyan said, noting that the OECD ranking in  Armenia has bypassed Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, as well as developed  countries such as Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, etc.

In response to a question from ArmInfo, the Deputy Minister noted  that the rating was assigned based on a study of 22 areas of economic  activity, including agricultural production, industry, various  services and real estate, each of which is considered in 4 more  categories. "This mainly concerns legislative restrictions for  foreign investors," he added.

According to Hovnanyan, the OECD rating is in some way a prerequisite  in order to present the investment attractiveness of the country in a  language that is understandable to the world. ,  he stressed.

In turn, William Tompson, Head of the Eurasia Division in the OECD  Global Relations Secretariat, emphasized that many governments say  they are open, which does not always correspond to the real picture  and contradicts the results of the studies.

To note, for the first time since 2003, Foreign Direct Investment  Regulatory Restrictiveness Index is being developed by the OECD as  one of the indicators for regulating commodity markets, making it  possible to assess the level of discriminatory provisions for foreign  direct investors in national legislation compared with the legal  regime for national investors in key sectors economy (agricultural  production, industry, various services and real estate).

Evaluation is carried out in 4 categories: restriction on equity  participation in industry enterprises; the need for permits and  checks; restrictions on hiring key personnel (management and  specialists); other restrictions for foreign enterprises (land,  capital, relations).

Currently, the Index is calculated for all OECD countries, adherents  of the Declaration on International Investments and Multinational  Enterprises, countries with expanded coverage and other G-20  countries.

It should be noted that, according to official statistics, total  foreign investments in the Armenian economy grew by 26.2% per annum  in the first half of 2019 with an increase in FDI by 21% to or $  319.2 million.  Russia holds the championship in the first half of  2019, both in terms of total investment - $ 555 million, and in terms  of FDI - $ 204.9 million. The second position in total investment is  Germany - $ 297.1 million, of which $ 11.9 million are in FDI. And  Cyprus (offshore) closes the top three with an indicator of $ 44.4  million, of which FDI accounts for $ 24.6 million.