MINISTER OF FINANCE: ARMENIA ON RECOVERY

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Feb 22 2010, 23:30

Last year, Armenia managed to resist the challenges of the global
economic crisis and preserve a stable macroeconomic situation in the
country. The results of January show some economic growth, and the
country has entered the stage of restoring its economy, said Tigran
Davtyan, Minister of Finance of Armenia at the International Forum
"Bridge".

In October 2009, Mr Davtyan marked that the critical bottom point of
the economic fall was overcome by Armenia, and since August a weak
upward trend was observed.

The Minister believes that at the crisis climax the financial and
banking systems of Armenia remained stable; moreover, the trust of
citizens to the Armenian banking system went up.

Mr Davtyan has reiterated that the country has entered the stage of
economy revival, and, in his opinion, it will happen much earlier
than many people think, the "PanARMENIAN.net" reports.

He believes that Armenia should aspire to create the regional
Armenian-Georgian market. According to his story, such market with the
10-million population (population of Armenia and Georgia together)
will be more attractive to global players than the only market of
three-million Armenia, the "ARKA" writes.

Under operative statistics, in January 2010 the GDP of Armenia went
up by 2.4 percent against January 2009.

In the years to come, among most serious challenges for Armenia’s
economy will be repayment of the state debt. To support the economy
during the crisis, the country had to take huge credits.