These days the employees of RA government show off that they have made a great progress according to the “Doing Business 2013” report by Universal Bank and international Financial corporation that says Armenia has progressed by 18 points. On this account “First Armenian News and Analysis” have interviewed the head of IB Yerevan Office Jean Michael Happy. Mr. Happy was asked to explain the observation that though the report says Armenia has been promoted by 18 points, at the same time almost half of the 124 thousand businesses doesn’t work in Armenia.
“We are satisfied that the efforts taken during several years are giving results. And these just a part of a larger whole, like Doing Business doesn’t include an estimate on security and control of food. Promoting from 40th place to 32th among 182 states is a great advance. Armenia has done a lot in reducing the processes for starting business. Besides Armenia has also progressed in the estimates of “investment protection” and “energy availability”.
The matter of your question, that many small and medium businesses are founded but fail to work, is predetermined by low productivity of theirs and incapability to overcome competitiveness. Armenia is a small country, the market is open, the competition is high because of many imported products. Another limiting factor is availability of finance; SMB cannot make use of financial resources. But with all these difficulties Armenia is able to produce competitive products as in information technologies and other science-based spheres.
