By Shakeh Avoyan
Armenia has somewhat regressed in terms of rule of law in recent years, while developing a more stable political system and improving its legal framework, according to a global survey of governance conducted by the World Bank. The survey, made public late Tuesday, rated more than 200 countries of the world on six indicators of governance, including political stability, government accountability, the rule of law and the extent of government corruption. The World Bank also assessed the effectiveness of their governments and the quality of laws enacted by them.
“Armenia is in the middle of the rankings among countries where progress has been made but the situation can still not be considered satisfactory in terms of rule of law and the fight against corruption,” said Vigen Sarkisian, a spokesman for the bank’s office in Yerevan.
Armenia fared poorly in the two categories, with most other countries surveyed assigned higher ratings. The bank concluded that the situation with rule of law there has somewhat worsened since its previous governance surveys conducted in 2002 and 1998, while finding a slight improvement in government efforts to combat corruption.
The Armenian government’s accountability to the public and the effectiveness of its activities were also found to have somewhat worsened in the past several years.
On the other hand, Armenia was judged to have made considerable progress in the areas of political stability and legal regulation. Its “regulatory quality” is higher than that of most other nations, according to the Washington-based lending agency’s Worldwide Governance Indicators for 2006.