ARMENIAN ECONOMY ENTERED A STAGE OF RECOVERY, DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 6, 2010

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. 3.1% economic growth was recorded
in Armenia in the first two months of 2010, which shows that the
country’s economy has entered a stage of recovery, Deputy Minister
of Finance Vardan Aramian stated during the April 5 press conference.

According to him, 1.3% economic growth was forecast by the end of the
year, it is likely that the growth will even exceed 1.3%. The deputy
minister explained that the state gave tax privileges to companies
importing new technologies and equipment, thanks to which imports
grew by million in the first two months of 2010 as compared with the
same period of last year, with equipment imports making up million
of that growth.

In the words of Deputy Chairman of the RA National Assembly Standing
Committee of Financial, Credit and Budget Affairs Artsvik Minasian
(ARF), there have been some positive tendencies, but one cannot say
that the crisis has been overcome. In the context of inflation control,
he pointed out the government programs on compensation of deposits
and raising social benefits and pensions as positive steps.

Nevertheless, he added, these steps do not fully deal with the problems
of vulnerable groups under conditions of the current inflation,
whereas these problems require complete solution.

A. Minasian said that the population does not see the results of the
work done by the government, the level of unemployment remains high,
people have lost their trust in the financial system, and the standard
of living is low.

The deputy minister of finance disagreed with the opinion that people
have lost trust in the financial system. "If that were the case,
people would see some risks and withdraw their deposits with banks. By
analysing the indices, we see that in 2009 deposits grew by over 30%
compared to 2008, which means that people have not lost their trust
in the financial system," V. Aramian said.