ARMENIAN ECONOMY HAS TOO MANY WEAK POINTS TO RESIST GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS: ACADEMICIAN

ARKA
Oct 24, 2008

YEREVAN, October 24. /ARKA/. Armenia’s economy has too many weak points
to resist the global financial crisis, according to Abel Aghanbekyan,
head of the Business Management Doctor Program, member of the Russian
Academy of Sciences.

"Armenia has not felt the painful influence of the global financial
crisis yet, but transfers to Armenia will significantly reduce in a
couple of months," he said at a roundtable on the influence of the
global tailspin on Armenia’s economy.

According to the Central Bank of Armenia, non-commercial transfers to
the country reached $668.7mln as of end-June 2008 – 32.98% ($164.8mln)
year-on-year growth. Net inflow rose 46.8 % year-on-year to $555.9mln
($378.7mln in January-June 2007).

Another weak point in Armenia’s economy is that Armenian imports are
considerably lower than exports, Aghanbekyan said.

According to the latest statistics, Armenia’s foreign trade
turnover rose 7.2% year-on-year in January-September 2008 to
$383.7mln. Exports went down 1.8% to $813.8mln, while imports rose
38.3% to $3,023.2mln. As a result, red ink of the foreign trade
turnover amounted to $2,209.4mln.

Aghanbekyan underlined the gap between urban and village construction,
saying almost 88.8% of house construction is consolidated in Yerevan,
while more than 50% of population lives in regions.

The academician stressed the importance of reducing rampant
urbanization.