Europe and Central Asia Knowledge Brief

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A New Model for Job Creation in Armenia: Promoting More Effective Accumulation, Competition, and Connectivity

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-11) Bartsch, Ulrich

In Armenia, more effective accumulation, together with greater competition and better connectivity with the rest of the world, will increase pressures on firms to compete and innovate and will thus reinvigorate job creation. In order to more effectively channel savings into investment in those industrial sectors with the best potential for growth and employment creation, a more sophisticated financial system is required. A recently released World Bank report1 finds that Armenias State Commission for the Protection of Competition (SCPEC) needs to be given better tools to carry out its work, and it also needs to shift its focus from price levels to more vigorously pursuing anticompetitive conduct. A liberalization of aviation would boost growth and job creation by better connecting people, ideas, and markets.
Diamond Production and Processing : What Armenia can Learn from an Intra-Regional Exchange on the Diamond Trade

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04) Grigorian, Karén

There is a growing gap worldwide between the rising demand and stagnating supply of diamonds, producing new opportunities for diamond processing countries such as Armenia. Building productive capacity through skills development and technological progress is of central importance to achieving sustainable growth in diamond manufacturing countries. Secondary diamond industries are successful where economic and social conditions are optimal and supportive. To develop or maintain a competitive edge in diamond cutting and jewelry manufacture, all countries in the diamond trade need to constantly develop their human resources. For diamond producers as well as processors like Armenia, investment in product branding is worthwhile, and the promotion of a diamond-based tourism may also be viable.
Public-Private Partnership Enhances Water Utility's Performance in Armenia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-12) Tokhmakhian, Zaruhi ; Eiweida, Ahmed

Public-Private Participation (PPP) schemes were successfully implemented in several water utilities in Armenia, yielding excellent results for the development of the water and wastewater sectors. Armenia is one of the few countries in the region to have had such a successful PPP experience. For many years after the collapse of the Soviet economy, most of the water supply and sanitation systems in Armenia were in disrepair. The country was faced with increasing demand, deteriorating assets and dilapidated infrastructure, which resulted in a steadily decreasing and costly provision of services. Despite an abundance of water in the country, for almost all Armenians, water was available for only a few hours a day. In recent years, Armenia has made significant strides in reforming the water sector by developing policies, enacting laws, and drawing up plans, programs and strategies aimed at improving water service provision.