ARMENIA GDP TO CONTRACT 15 PCT IN ’09-IMF
Hasmik Lazarian

Forbes
Sept 16 2009

YEREVAN, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Armenia’s gross domestic product will
likely shrink 15 percent in 2009, the International Monetary Fund said
on Wednesday, citing a dramatic decline in the construction sector.

IMF mission chief to Armenia Mark Lewis said a large drop in tax
revenues meant the public deficit could reach up to around 7.5 percent
of GDP. He forecast annual inflation of 3 percent.

Wednesday’s GDP forecast was sharply down on a June estimate by the
IMF of a 9.5 percent contraction in the landlocked country of 3.2
million people.

The former Soviet republic has seen a sharp fall in remittances and
exports and a steep contraction in the construction sector as it
struggles with the fallout of recession in close economic ally Russia.

‘2009 has been a very challenging year for Armenia with real GDP now
expected to decline by about 15 percent,’ Lewis told a news conference.