Armenia continues to carry on negotiations with the U.S. party over being involved in the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) program.

Deputy Minister of Finance Suren Karayan’s statement came in response to a Banks.am inquiry.

“There are certain constraints that serve as an obstacle to increasing Armenia’s propriety to be involved in the program,” said the Deputy Minister of Finance.

According to him, there are particularly budget constraints in the program that do not enable to considerably enlarge the participation of new countries in the program.

“On the other hand, Armenia competes with eight other low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) the chances of which to be involved in the program are quite low, as compared with low income countries,” added Suren Karayan.

The U.S. Embassy in Armenia told Banks.am that MCC program “is very competitive and is made up of a multi-step process.”

“First the country must be legally eligible, which means it must be classified as a World Bank ‘Low Income’ or ‘Lower Middle Income’ country. For 2015 this was defined as a country with a per capita Gross National Income of below USD 4,125. Armenia’s GNI for 2014 was USD 3,810, making it very close to no longer qualifying.  This could result in Armenia becoming ineligible before a compact could be implemented,” noted the Embassy.

The U.S. Embassy also recalled that “legally eligible countries must pass at least 10 of the 20 indicators, including a few specific indicators.”

“The board then evaluates all those countries, which have passed the scorecard to determine where the limited MCC funds would have the greatest impact on reducing poverty and generating economic growth,” said the Embassy.

There is a meeting of the U.S.-Armenia Joint Economic Taskforce (USATF) scheduled for later this year. Touching upon the possibility of discussing Armenia’s involvement in the MCC program at the meeting, the U.S. Embassy said that “the process for qualifying and competing for MCC compacts is a separate, well-defined process.”

“It is up to the MCC Board to determine in which qualifying countries its money can have the greatest impact; it is not a policy decision,” stressed the Embassy.

Siranush Yeghiazaryan