ARMENIA NEGOTIATING WITH ITS MAIN PARTNERS OVER LOANS TO SUPPORT ECONOMY UNDER CRISIS CONDITIONS

ARKA
Jan 23, 2009

Yerevan, January 23. /ARKA/. Armenia is negotiating with its main
partners over loans required to support the country’s economy under
the world economic crisis conditions, Armenian Minister of Finance
Tigran Davtyan said in his exclusive interview to ARKA Agency.

Earlier Russian Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Aleksey Kudrin said
that Armenia applied to Russia for a stabilization loan to mitigate
the consequences of the global crisis.

Negotiations are held with principle trade-economic and financial
partners, including Russia, in both multilateral and bilateral formats
involving the World Bank and other international organizations,
Davtyan said.

There is nothing new in such negotiations, the Minister said adding
that Armenia has been always taking the advantage of external lending
on soft conditions acceptable for Armenian economy.

Davtyan refrained from mentioning an overall lending amount pending
the completion of the negotiations. Yet, it will be a substantial
volume allowing Armenian economy effectively coping with the possible
effects of the global economic crisis, he said.

It is also early to mention any amount of loan from Russia, the
Minister said adding that the things may be getting clearer within
the next weeks.

Particularly, the ministry is now clarifying the volume of lending
with the WB for the next four years.

"We are carrying on negotiations with various partners and they
are interconnected, but the loan support will be substantial,"
Davtyan said.