Former minister of economy Armen Yeghiazaryan: We will not become a country developed through this model
Gayane SAHAKYAN | August 21, 2010
According to the official information, during the first half of this year the economy has grown by 6,7%. According to the national statistics, the growth rates of construction, export and import, as well as the service sector have stayed the same. However, the sector of agriculture has slumped by 13,1%. During this month the rate of economic development fell down by 2%. The growth rate in may-June months was 8,8%. Does this mean that the economy is recovering and soon we will be able to return to the 12% development rate as we had before the crisis or we have to get ready for the third phase of the crisis as some experts say? We discussed these issues with the former minister of economy Armen Yeghiazaryan, who currently represents the Avag Solutions advisory company. - Speaking of the economy of Armenia before 2008 you said that at that time we had cheap money and gold rain dropping from the sky. At that time we had up to 12% economic growth. In consideration of the crisis it seems that the growth rate of this... [full story]
Onward the new numbers
Babken TUNYAN | August 21, 2010
In a day or two the official statistics will “rejoice” us with their regular figures. Let us recall that in the first quarter of this year the NSS has predicted 6.7% growth of the GDP by causing the government and pro-government politicians brag about this. Our folks connect the registered figures with the anti-corruption actions of the government and would often nobly add that the stabilization of the world economy also played its role on the development of the Armenian economy and for having a figure surpassing the predication. We cannot say what numbers the statisticians will provide to us for January-July but we may assume that the figures will be higher than the predicted 1.2% growth. According to the formed tradition the governmental and opposition politicians will make speeches and express opinions one after another. The first ones will indeed admire by their deeds and the oppositionists will keep claiming that the statisticians continued drawing figures. There is indeed space for criticism....
“In order to annihilate the GDP it’s worth splitting it first”
Babken TUNYAN | July 24, 2010
And so we halved the year with a 6.7% economic growth. And this is according to official data. Of course compared to the 8.8% economic growth of January the rates have reduced a little bit but compared to the terrible rates of the slump of the last year the 6.7%% economic growth isn’t that bad. According to the operative data of the National Statistical Service in the first half of this year the GDP of Armenia grew by 6.7% compared to the same period of the previous year. The growth was registered in all the branches of economy except for agriculture, where the plummet, according to the statisticians was 13.1%%. Instead growth was registered in the rest of the branches. The industrial growth amounted to 12.3%, electrical energy production – 15%, services – 6.1%, construction – 4.1%. In short, these data give grounds to the government and statesmen to be optimistic and be encouraging the people. Regardless of how much the Prosperous Armenia MP, deputy-chair of the financial budgetary standing...
“Armenia is a country of intellectual tourism”
Marine MARTIROSYAN | July 24, 2010
- It seems that there are not many tourists in Armenia this year. What is the reason? - Maybe this year there are fewer tourists in Armenia than in 2007, which was a travel “boom” for Armenia. However, we can’t say that tourists don’t visit Armenia much. According to the official information of the ministry, every year the number of the travel inflow grows by 3-4%. I think it is a positive number despite the fact that most of these tourists are visitors. The situation is different with the organized tourism, which according to the official information is around 35-40.000 annually. The world crisis has affected the tourism market too but we are still optimistic. Most of the tourists visiting Armenia are old people. Thus, we may assume that the world economic crisis has not affected them much and they still can afford to travel to Armenia. - Why do mainly old tourists visit Armenia? Don't we have interesting entertainment for young tourists? - There are several reasons for...
Even the smile was “made in China”
Babken TUNYAN | July 20, 2010
Yesterday the media covered two types of information, which were not connected with each other at first glance. The first one is that the prime minister Tigran Sargsyan accepted the Ambassador of China to Armenia Tian Chanchun and by welcoming the Ambassador thanked his country for the dynamic development of the relations with Armenia. The second information concerns the currency exchange rate, specifically it informs that the NADAQ OEMEX ARMENIA CJSC implemented a transaction of 1,500,000USD at an average rate of 363AMD for one dollar and the closing rate was 363AMD. Of course the readers are wondering what the connection between these two things is. According to Tigran Sargsyan, the Armenian-Chinese relations are developing dynamically. From this point of view he attached importance to the participation in Shanghai-Expo 2010 and the opening of the joint Armenian-Chinese venture which produces chloroprene cautchouc. However the most important component of the bilateral business cooperation is the foreign...
Peculiarities of the Armenian vacation
Babken TUNYAN | July 17, 2010
Several days ago quite interesting information appeared on the internet news, which was quickly dispersed on Armenian websites. It turns out that the Russian tourists prefer to spend their vacation in Armenia and are inspired with unique love to our country. The number of the Russian tourist to our country has risen 4 times within the current year – leaving behind Brazil, Bulgaria and other countries attractive to tourists. Indeed the news is rejoicing as no matter what our country benefits from the increase of the number of tourists. Doesn’t matter they are visiting from Russia or other country, whether they are Armenians or foreigners. But the most interesting thing was not this information but the interpretation that followed it. Thus, the Russian GTZ.ru website quoted the words of the director of Yerevan Travel Hovhannes Khachatryan. He confirmed that there is big inflow of tourists and added that the number of Russian tourists to Armenia has increased especially after the annihilation of travel...
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Back on the “needle” of remittances
August 29, 2010
As the RA Central Bank informs in the second quarter of 2010 the growth of remittances of physical entities continued, which was mainly stipulated by the development of the economy of the Russian Federation. According to the new predictions of the International Monetary Fund the index of the economy growth of Russia for 2010 will amount to higher number than expected – 4.3. Only during the second half of 2010 the inflow of incomes originated due to the work of seasonal workers increased by 12.8% and amounted 151.6 million USD. In the second quarter the growth of private remittances amounted to 13.7%. The net inflow of foreign investments amounted to 158.8 million USD (instead of 151.2 million USD of the same period of the previous year)....
The price will increase again
August 29, 2010
About two weeks ago in Armenia the price of bread and bakery increased. The wheat importers, however, ensure that the operating wheat mills work with loss as the international price of bread is higher than what they price for flour. The owner of Mancho Group company Vanik Mosoyan told our reporter that the recent increase of thee prices in the Armenian market don’t match with the increase of the prices of the international market. “The price, by which we sell the flour, is not realistic. These are artificially lowered prices. At the moment the sack of high-quality flour should cost 12 thousand AMD in Armenia instead of 10.000 AMD.” The owner of Manand Grain company Gourgen Nikoghosyan said that after the ban on part of Russia to export its wheat, they are seeking alternative ways. “In the republic we still have reserves of wheat for 3-4 months. There will be no deficit for bread but it should suit with the rules of the stock market.”....
The smaller the worse
August 21, 2010
“Armenia is favorable for foreign investments only in the formal aspect but realistically indeed not,” told our reporter the former minister of economy, former chair of the Armenian Association of Banks Armen Yeghiazaryan. “Today the businessmen are trying to integrate with the government to insure their businesses and the ones that succeed in that have privileges. The surveys show that big enterprises in Armenia have good conditions; medium business have a little worse conditions but the small businesses face the worst conditions. It means that the closer you are standing to the government the bigger your business is and in better conditions you work,” he mentioned by not hiding that the merging of businesses with the government had started during the years of his tenure – 1993-1995. “At that time this was a new phenomenon. It wasn’t as bad as in the past but the base was set back then.”...
Number of millionaires growing again
July 22, 2010
The number of millionaires, which was reduced as a result of the economic crisis, is growing again and returning to the same level as before the crisis. The research of the Merrill Lynch investment bank shows that the millionaires are more careful now. The investors in the stock markets are more cautious now. If they see any potential risk they make a lot of efforts to find out whether their investments are justified or no....
Not excluded
June 29, 2010
“If a new wave of crisis starts, it will be impossible to predict what the development dynamics of our economy may be in the end of the year,” says the president of the “economy and values” research center Manouk Hergnyan. He does not exclude the possibility that there may be another phase of crisis, which may be deeper and more difficult to cope with. “This risk is still pending both for the world economy and Armenia,” he said. Concerning the anti-crisis policy and projects on part of the government he says these were low-scale projects and activities, which even in some extent had a negative impact on the competition environment....
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