This year, the Yerevan municipality planned to purchase 45 trolleybuses with its own funds. But now it turns out they have no money, so the purchase will be made with state budget funds—while the city can allocate huge sums to various NGOs and known or unknown organizations.
Prior to sanctions imposed on Russia, the company had comparatively modest tax obligations, but in recent years it has contributed tens of billions in taxes derived not from domestic production but from import-export operations. While these payments inflate budgetary figures, they do not substantively benefit the domestic economy or citizens. This mechanism enables the authorities to present the fiscal situation as favorable while masking structural weaknesses.
Dr. Arthur Khachikian, Stanford PhD in Political Science, and Suren Sargsyan, Director of the «Armenian Center for American Studies» hold a discussion at 168.am with a world-famous economist, Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Earth Institute of Columbia University, Jeffrey D. Sachs.
