ARMENIA’S BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INDEX DOWN TO 51.8 IN Q 4

YEREVAN, February 18. /ARKA/. Armenia’s business environment index
for the fourth quarter of 2014 fell by 0.8 percentage points to
51.8 compared to Q3, the press office of the Central Bank of Armenia
reports.

At the same time, the index dropped by 0.4 percentage points compared
to the same period of the year before.

The central bank says the index is within the stable range, and
positive sentiments are maintained in almost all economic fields,
according to the report.

The index was influenced by changes of the respective indicators,
including industry, trade and services. In particular, industry
indicator fell by 2.8 percentage points to 55.5; trade index dropped
by 11.4p.p to 48.8 and the services index rose by 9.6 p.p. to 63.8.

The lowest index was recorded for the construction sector – 34.6,
a negligible increase of 0.5 p.p., still below the stable range.

Business environment index is calculated based on averaged assessments
of economic condition and risk changes by organizations.

In 2014 the central bank reviewed the methodology of the calculation
and merged business environment and business activity indices together
into one index of business environment.

Since the beginning of 2005 the central bank has been conducting
quarterly polls among non-financial and financial organizations and
households. -0–