Republic Of Armenia Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Progress Report

This Joint Staff Advisory Note (JSAN) discusses Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Armenia, which focuses on the government’s commitment to equitable growth and sustained poverty reduction. It reports on the progress in addressing issues raised in the previous JSAN, and provides IMF staff's advice on key priorities for strengthening the PRSP process further. The second PRSP Progress Report provides strong evidence of rapid economic growth, a notable reduction in poverty, and a number of other accomplishments, particularly in fiscal policy and social service delivery.

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) has been developed for eradicating poverty in Armenia. It analyzes the poverty situation of Armenia, and evaluates the methodology and methodological issues. It discusses the PRSP goals, main policy directions, solution to poverty, and the reduction of inequality. It assesses the social and economic strategies and governance. It reviews the employment issues and trends in the budget framework, and also analyzes the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the system.

This paper evaluates the Joint Staff Assessment of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Armenia, which builds on the strategy laid out in the Interim PRSP. It provides an extensive analysis on the causes of poverty and the challenges faced, the comprehensive strategy with short- and long-term perspectives, set of public actions, evaluation plans, costing of programs, and the financing scenario. It also reviews planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the strategy.

This paper presents a Joint Staff Advisory Note on the Republic of Armenia's Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Armenia's poverty and extreme poverty rates declined in 2006 to 26.5 percent and 4.1 percent of the population, respectively-results which surpassed PRSP-1 projections. Inequality also decreased to a rate below the PRSP-1 goal, as measured by a reduction in the Gini coefficient from 0.395 in 2004 to 0.369 in 2006. Prudent fiscal and monetary policies were instrumental in maintaining macroeconomic stability and contributing to poverty reduction.