GOVERNMENT CANNOT ASSESS YET POSSIBLE SCALE OF IMPACT OF GLOBAL CRISIS ON ARMENIAN ECONOMY

Noyan Tapan

Dec 3, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Despite a decline in exports and the
withdrawal of Russian capital from the country, the global economic
crisis has not yet affected Armenia, the RA minister of finance Tigran
Davtian said when responding to a question of deputy Samvel Sargsyan
at the December 3 sitting of the RA National Assembly.

In his words, Armenia avoided the impact of the first stage of the
crisis – the financial crisis as the country’s financial system has
not yet integrated into the global system, and besides, it is quite
small. As regards the economic crisis, it has just begun and today
it is impossible to assess the time and scale of its impact on Armenia.

The finance minister said that the government has taken some steps
to soften the impact of the crisis. In particular, it was decided
to allocate a sum equivalent to 50 million dollars with the aim of
assisting small and medium business. Besides, negotiations are being
conducted with the World Bank on doubling the financial assistance
to Armenia. According to T. Davtian, the matter concerns a sum of
about one billion dollars.