13:15, 2 November, 2021

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan says there’s been a 15% growth of private investments in the country compared to last year, but there are still issues in the sector and some investment projects face problems.

“Private investments grew, and in my opinion, comprise around 15% of the GDP compared to last year,” he said during a parliamentary committee discussion on the 2022 budget when asked about economic growth projections by Hayastan faction MP Artur Khachatryan.

He referred to the government’s plans to increase the share of investments against the GDP in the next 5 years.

“It would be wrong to say that our country is managing to smoothly absorb all investment projects,” he said.

“And we have many projects in both our investment support center and the economy ministry which face numerous obstacles. And making these investments reach their goal and at the same time correcting the legislative issues which were the reasons of these obstacles is part of our daily work,” the minister said, adding that there is a lot to be done in this regard.

Kerobyan said that there are some actions which don’t require funds, for example the improvement of the business environment. He said that the duties of one of his deputies are entirely directed at improving the business environment.

According to Kerobyan, one of the most important factors which should lead to the desired economic growth is the unprecedented volume of capital spending.

Addressing MP Khachatryan’s question to clarify how the ministry projected 7% growth and whether or not the Amulsar gold mine will be re-launched, Kerobyan said: “Even if all issues were to be solved at this moment, and the mine were to be re-launched, in best case scenario it would start working in 12 months. We are now waiting for the resolution of the criminal case to see the results. Further discussions on Amuslar will depend on it.”

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan