The political changes that took place in the country in the spring of 2018 should have had an impact on the main financial document of the country, the development and implementation of the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia. Having a majority in the National Assembly, the "My Step" Alliance, since 2019 has an opportunity to develop the State Budget in accordance with their statements, ensure its implementation for the achievement of the announced “economic revolution” or at least for establishing basis for that.

Provisions relating to the State Budget and public finance were reflected in pre-election programme of “My step” Alliance, which received the support of the majority of Armenian citizens in the 2018, as well as in the "Program of the Government of the Republic of Armenia" adopted on February 8, 2019.  This study presents the promises made by the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the political majority in the public finance and analyses the steps taken by the Government for the implementation of that promises in period 2018-2019. Full material is only available in Armenian. 

The legislative package of property tax reforms, being amended multiple times over past years, was fully adopted by the National Assembly. That means higher real estate tax burden for households and firms, because of increased tax base.

The “Luys” Foundation has analyzed the legislative package on property taxes. The research mainly covers the following questions:

• How much will the property tax burden increase in different cities and regions of Armenia?
• Has the government been able to implement an effective system of market valuation of the real estate?
• What kind of tools is the government going to use to mitigate the increase in the property tax burden for the socially vulnerable citizens?
• Will local authorities be able to properly collect property tax, which will increase by several times?

Full material is only available in Armenian.

On June 19 the European Parliament approved the document of recommendations in the run-up to the 2020 Eastern Partnership Summit addressed to various EU institutions, which sets clear political guidelines for the further development of EU relations with its Eastern partners. In this analysis, we tried to compare the quotations on various issues of interest to Armenia accordingly from the similar documents published in the run-up to the 2017 and 2020 EaP Summits. The comparative analysis shows that the EU's approach to a number of key for Armenia issues have undergone negative changes compared to the 2017 document. Of particular concern are the assessments made in the document on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and commonly regarding the conflicts in the EAP region. The analysis shows that from the point of view of Armenian (including parliamentary) diplomacy, this document as a whole is a derogation from the 2017 document. Full material is only available in Armenian.

In the present analysis, given the data published by the Statistical Committee of the RA, we study the recent social-economic developments in the economy of the RA. In particular, we consider the cumulative indicator of economic activity of the given month, its sectoral distribution, as well as the dynamics of individual sectors of the economy. We also analyze economic developments in the foreign trade, labour market and fiscal system of the RA. In addition, some aspects of the financial system (inflation, deposits and loans), as well as the behaviour of the exchange rate, are touched upon. Full material is only available in Armenian.

The objective of the present analysis is to assess the execution of the state budget of the RA in the given period. First, we describe the general state of the economy of the RA, namely the driving forces of economic activity, the developments in individual sectors of the economy, the behavior of the components of the demand – consumption and investment – and so on. Afterwards, we analyze the performance of government revenues and expenditures by comparing the actual and planned values of the respective indicators. We conclude the analysis by summarizing the main observations and results. Full material is only available in Armenian․

The South Caucasus region has traditionally been at the core of Britain's geopolitical interests, and London still attaches great importance to the processes taking place in the region. With this analysis, we have tried to understand the geopolitical consequences of the Brexit process, as well as to assess the impact it will have on British policy in the South Caucasus. The study of a number of processes has led to the conclusion that after the Brexit process, London will try to strengthen its presence and influence in the South Caucasus region. This presence can and should be used for the benefit of Armenia, including in the issue of the Karabakh conflict, using also the ties and authority of the President of the Republic of Armenia.

The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body-GRECO published its annual report for 2019, examining how its Member States have been implementing GRECO’s recommendations on the prevention of corruption among parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors. Earlier, the RA Ministry of Justice presented the Armenian translation of the second compliance report on the fulfillment of Armenia's commitments of the recommendations issued in the GRECO’s fourth evaluation report on Armenia. With this analysis, we tried to compare the assessments given to Armenia with those of other member states of the Eastern Partnership. We also touched upon those recommendations presented to Armenia in the fourth round evaluation report, which were not sufficiently implemented, or during the implementation of which the authorities made significant omissions. The study shows that the Armenian authorities did not make enough efforts to implement a number of recommendations; as a result, there are half measure solutions and serious omissions in various areas. Full material is only available in Armenian․

Recently, the " COVID-19 Regional Safety Assessment Report" was published, which presents the situation with coronavirus, security rating and threats in 200 countries around the world. With this analysis, we have tried to highlight the most remarkable data for Armenia, as well as compare them with the data of other countries in the region. According to the report, Armenia ranks 81st, behind all countries in the region. At the same time, the data reflected in it show that the severe epidemic situation in Armenia is conditioned not by the fact that the potential of the state is limited, or by the behavior and culture of the population, but by the failure of quarantine and inefficient management. Full material is only available in Armenian․

There is a lot of research and evidence showing that economic reforms can succeed if they rely on credible and comprehensive information and data. The latter allows to diagnose the macroeconomic situation accurately, paving the way for effective managerial decisions. In this regard, it is of utmost importance to have a quantitative estimate for the shadow economy of the RA. To this end, we develop an econometric model, based on the currency demand approach. According to computations, the shadow economy of the RA amounts to 27-28% of the formal GDP. Furthermore, in the RA a slowdown in the speed of the contraction of the shadow economy has been observed since mid-2016. This implies that it is necessary to rethink the strategy of formalising the shadow economy of the RA, by placing a special emphasis on the following 3 dimensions – revision of tax rules, modification of the model of tax administration and restrictions on cash transactions. Full material is only available in Armenian.

The objective of the present analysis is to assess the execution of the state budget of the RA in the given period. First, we describe the general state of the economy of the RA, namely the driving forces of economic activity, the developments in individual sectors of the economy, the behavior of the components of the demand – consumption and investment – and so on. Afterwards, we analyze the performance of government revenues and expenditures by comparing the actual and planned values of the respective indicators. We conclude the analysis by summarizing the main observations and results. Full material is only available in Armenian.