After the incidents of March 1, 2008, “Millennium Challenge Corporation” (MCC) of the US stopped funding Armenia. On March 10, 2008, the Second President of the Republic of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, announced that “Armenia is able to implement the envisaged programs on its own, we will find alternative financial means.” Voice of America reports.
From 2008 to 2018, Armenia did not comply with the requirements set forth by the Corporation because of the high corruption rates and insufficiency of democracy. Under the Charter of the Corporation, only the states encompassed in the list of the countries having “low” or “low average” gross national income per capita according to the World Bank can receive financial support.
The countries having below $995 gross national income are in the list of “low” income countries. Countries having $996-$3895 gross national income per capita are in the list of “low average” income countries.
According to the reports of the World Bank, Armenia was in the list of “low average” income countries.
On July 1, 2018, the World Bank lifted Armenia to the list of “high average” income countries, where the gross national income per capita constitutes over $3,896.
“Voice of America” will try to explain what data the World Bank grounded its decision to classify Armenia in the list of “high average” income countries on, meanwhile Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are in the list of “low average” income countries.
Georgia receives the support of the MCC, inasmuch as it is in the list of “low average” income countries.