In 2018, $211 Million Was Transferred from Azerbaijan to Armenia: WB Report Raises Questions, MP Says

While the final clarification of the issue is pending, the head of the National Assembly’s Economic Affairs Committee stated that no funds were transferred from Armenia to Azerbaijan or vice versa in 2017 or 2018, and these figures are not credible.

In 2018, $211 million was transferred from Azerbaijan to Armenia, announced Armen Yeghiazaryan, a member of the ‘Bright Armenia’ faction, during a meeting of the National Assembly's Economic Affairs Permanent Commission today, adding that this data was presented in the World Bank’s annual report.

“First of all, I addressed our Central Bank, which clarified that according to their information, the base value is those Azerbaijanis who returned there in the 90s, while our Armenians came to Armenia. It was stated that those figures are based on that formula, and that $211 million was derived according to that formula,” said the MP.

Yeghiazaryan also mentioned that following his inquiry, that section of the report was simply removed from the website, but he maintained a screenshot of the report.

“As for the Central Bank, I discussed with our Central Bank’s partners, we examined everything, and it is clear that no transfer has been recorded through our banking system,” Yeghiazaryan added.

The chairman of the National Assembly Economic Affairs Permanent Commission and member of the ‘My Step’ faction, Babken Tunyan, elaborated that according to the aforementioned World Bank report, in 2018, $211 million was transferred from Azerbaijan to Armenia, and $84 million from Armenia to Azerbaijan, while in 2017, $7 million was transferred from Azerbaijan to Armenia and $174 million from Armenia to Azerbaijan.

“This means that we also implemented some processes there in 2017. It is evident that there is either a methodological issue or a problem concerning the application of methodology. The fact is that it is technically understandable for all of us that this cannot happen; secondly, there was an issue that was indirectly accepted by the Central Bank; thus, the report has been removed. Thirdly, if this question continues to interest us, and it interests me, we will try to get an answer from the World Bank about why these discrepancies exist if the base data has remained the same,” Tunyan said.

However, while the final clarification of the issue is pending, the chairman of the commission stated that no funds were transferred from Armenia to Azerbaijan or vice versa in 2017 or 2018, and these figures are not credible. The opposition MP agreed with Babken Tunyan’s observations, adding that discussions with the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia on this matter are ongoing.