Economic crisis in Armenia still not overcome: expert

YEREVAN, April 21. / ARKA /. The economic crisis in Armenia has not yet been overcome, Tatul Manaserian, head of Alternative think-tank, said today. "While the global crisis is abating, and many countries have come out of it, in Armenia it is not over yet," he said to journalists on Thursday.

According to him, the government must learn to distinguish between the aftereffects of the crisis from domestic economic problems, otherwise, the country will stagnate. "

Manaserian said also that many countries, in contrast to Armenia, were able to take advantage of the consequences of the crisis and upgraded their technical base by buying for a symbolic price the products of bankrupted companies. He also said that a number of countries with similar problems were able to overcome them and even move ahead.

"If we look into the economic performance of Kazakhstan, we can see that in times of crisis, when other countries’ economies declined, the economy of Kazakhstan registered an increase. And this is the result of public policy, not in words but in deeds, "- he said.

Ara Nranian, a parliament member from the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation, said even under the most optimistic scenario economic performance would be equal to pre-crisis this year.

"Moreover, in dollar terms, it will be 16-20% less than the figures of 2008" - he said.

According to Nranian, the crisis provided an impetus for the changes, but the government failed to take this advantage. He also slapped the government’s policy of foreign borrowings, which, according to him, will further aggravate the debt burden of Armenia.

"To fill the gap in their economic policies the government continues to borrow which exacerbates our already precarious position. Armenia does not earn, but continues to accumulate debt, " he stressed.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, economic activity index in March of this year increased by 17.6% year-on-year. But compared with the same period in 2010 this figure has not changed.

The total public debt of Armenia amounted to about 1.379.3 trillion drams at the end of last year. During the reporting period, the value of government debt in dram equivalent increased by 4.8% (or 108.5 billion drams), as compared to December 30, 2009. Debt to GDP ratio was 39.3% in late 2010. ($ 1 - 376.84 AMD). -0-