Interfax, Russia
Feb 26 2010

World Bank improves GDP forecast for Armenia in 2010 to 2% growth

YEREVAN Feb 26

The World Bank forecast that Armenia’s GDP 2010 to increase by 2%, the
head of the World Bank’s Yerevan office, Aristomene Varoudakis, said
at a press conference on Friday.

At the end of 2009, the bank put GDP growth in 2010 at 1.5%.

Varoudakis said that in 2011, GDP growth could come to 3%-4%.

He added that Armenia had already surpassed the peak of the crisis and
the country’s economy has already started to recover as indicated by
statistics for 2010. According to official stats, Armenian GDP in
January increased by 2.4% year-on-year.

The country’s GDP in 2009 contracted by 14.4% according to preliminary
information. The World Bank puts the decrease in Armenia’s GDP at
12%-14% for last year.

Armenia’s state budget for 2010 puts GDP growth this year at 1.2%.