Armenian economist proposes development plan

The most challenging imperative Armenia faces presently is the subordination of long-term strategic objectives to routine problems, an economist said today, considering the method an important strategy to develop the economy. 

“Today, we keep developing the economy relying on the methodology of earning a day’s penny. Well, that has objective reasons; nonetheless, if we concentrate too much on everyday problems, closing an eye to strategically important issues, we may find ourselves facing a blind alley sometime in the future,” Ruben Hayrapetyan, an associate professor at the Armenian State University of Economics, told reporters.

The specialist said he knows that the government has elaborated long-term solutions but meantime questioned the effectiveness of the proposed steps.

He called for efforts to focus simultaneously on both short- and long-term issues.

The economist said he thinks that protectionist policies can in the long run reduce the Armenian economy’s dependence on foreign remittances, simultaneously reducing the emigration rate. He pointed out to emigration’s negative effect on the gross domestic product on the one hand and its potential likelihood to boost the money transfers on the other. “It turns out that those money flows are linked to the increased migration,” he said, considering transfers an inalterable solution in the short run.

From the point of view of long-term strategic development, the specialist highlighted two major factors: education and local government. “It has to do with the entire education system, ranging from the pre-school level to post-graduate education. So education has to be predominant in the investment priorities,” he added.

Asked why then educated people often have difficulty finding jobs, the economist attributed the fact to imperfections in Armenia’s education system. He highlighed the need of maintaining educational institutions’ closer ties with the labor market. 

“The educational sector needs systemic reforms, whereas any strategy implies sacrifices,” he said, calling for reducing costs in other sectors in the process of elaborating long-term development plans.

As for the problems in local government, the economist first of all stressed the importance of self-reliant policies. “By saying local government, I mean that those people have to learn to resolve problems of community importance. In my deepest conviction, a country’s economy can see a long-range development in case of a bottom-up growth. We have no more way to develop top-down,” he added.