PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA: GOVERNMENT FORECASTS 15% ECONOMIC DECLINE IN ARMENIA IN 2009

ArmInfo
2009-12-25 15:16:00

ArmInfo. Government forecasts 15% economic decline in Armenia in
2009, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said in a final press
conference on Friday.

Apparently, last year became the heaviest in the history of the
young Armenian country, however Armenia has overcome the crisis year
2009 with minimum losses, Tigran Sargsyan said. The anti-crisis
program of the government was effective and the strategy was
right. Particularly, increasing investments in the infrastructure,
the budgetary expenditures totaled nearly 900 billion drams in 900
versus 810 billion drams in 2008. Increasing expenses we avoided social
tension and stimulated economy. Armenia entered the stage of economy
restoration and these positive trends will be continued in 2010,
Tigran Sargsyan said. He outlined that the crisis revealed the weak
points of the country and the need for better reforms, diversification
of economy and creation of equal conditions for private investors. In
this context, economy is still vulnerable, the prime minister said.

He said that Armenia starts the year 2010 with budget balance of 80
billion drams. There are 54 billion drams in the stabilization fund.

The European Union pledged to provide the government with additional
100 million euro in 2010. "All these are rather serious reserves to
ensure macroeconomic stability and create favorable business climate
for economic entities and increase the public trust in the government.

We are ready to resist new testing," the prime minister said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress