Yerevan /Mediamax/. Before the crisis, Armenia had an extremely vulnerable economic model, OSCE Ambassador in Yerevan Sergey Capinos stated.

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a conference on “Crisis: Russian and Armenian versions”, Sergey Capinos stated that the dependence on transfers and goods import hindered the development of national economy. “Middle class did not appear in Armenia anyway and polarization of incomes becomes stronger”, Sergey Capinos stated, noting the necessity of complex economic reforms, investments into science and education and structural change in Armenian economy.

Sergey Capinos stressed the importance of small and medium enterprise for development of Armenian economy, suggesting providing them tax privileges in crisis conditions. The Ambassador noted the presence of problems in economic competition in Armenia, urging the authorities to struggle against “restrictive trade practice”.

“Efficiency of measures to support small and medium enterprise is minimal without struggling against monopoly”, Sergey Capinos stated.

He stressed the necessity of qualitative improvement of business atmosphere in Armenia, noting that, as to certain indices of the business climate, Armenia occupies “inadmissibly low positions”.

OSCE Ambassador in Armenia stated that the resources of the state budget will “be obviously insufficient” to realize crisis prevention measures, welcoming at that the measures of the government to attract external means and stressing the necessity of their “reasonable and efficient use”.