Prime-minister: economic growth rates stabilizing in Armenia

YEREVAN, October 22. /ARKA/. Post-crisis economic growth rates are being stabilized in Armenia, Armenian Prime-Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at the meeting of the Trustees’ Board of Armenia’s National Competitiveness Fund Saturday.

“Over the last years, after the 2009 economic decline, rates of growth are being stabilized”, Sargsyan said. The economic growth rate was 4.2% by the end of Year 2011 and 7% by the end of the first eight months of 2012.

Under the Armenian government budget for 2012, the growth is at 4.6%. 

Budget deficit is also under the planned value, the Prime Minister said. It was 2.8% in 2011 and will not be more than 3% in 2012. “We are fulfilling our budgetary obligations,” Sargsyan said.

The Prime-Minister stressed the importance of the fact that exports growth rates are the double of the imports growth rates in Armenia. Despite the fact that the balance of trade is still extremely negative, exports growth rates demonstrate a better upward trend, Sargsyan said. He added that the trade deficit has reduced by about 4% in the GDP. Rates of growth reflected in the economic growth indicators are 11% for both industry and agriculture, the Prime-Minister said.

Sargsyan also mentioned that diversification of the economy is under way. Particularly, after the crisis, the share of construction has gone down – from 28% to 14%, Sargsyan said. «Consequently, we have a better balanced economic structure,» he said. The share of agriculture in GDP is 20%, that of industry is 12%, the share of construction is 14% and the rest goes to the services sector. -0-