YEREVAN, DECEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Neither budget nor any other document envisages any step for withstanding the global financial and economic crisis. The member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) Vahagn Khachatrian said at the December 17 press conference that no step is being taken to change the tax policy and protect small and medium business. In his words, the authorities do whatever they want, while "the National Assembly obediently makes decisions, and we will see the consequences of the impact of the crisis on our economy starting from January". V. Khachatrian noted that the 2009 budget presented by the Armenian government does not differ in any way from the draft budget submitted in October, but there was already a crisis so some changes should have been made in the draft budget. In his opinion, the crisis has already affected Armenia because all mining enterprises, ArmenAl, etc. have been either closed or half-closed. "Among the important preconditions for developing the Armenian economy are job creation and relieving the tax burden which will contribute to development of small and medium business," the ANC representative said. The member of the Mational Assembly "ARF" Artsvik Minasian subscribed to V. Khachatrian's opinion that in terms of risk identification, the global crisis should have been reflected in the 2009 budget. According to him, the ARF has submitted to the government a concrete action plan envisaging such steps as development of domestic production and encouragement of the export of domestic goods.

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