Economist: damages caused to Armenia and Armenians by 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh estimated at $38 billion
YEREVAN, February 7. /ARKA/. By 2020 Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) was already one of the drivers of Armenia's economy, economist at the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan Hrant Mikayelyan said when speaking in the podcast of the Novosti-Armenia telegram channel.
According to him, the consequences of the war in Artsakh in the fall of 2020 and the loss of part of the Artsakh territory have had a negative impact on the state of Armenia's economy.
"Due to the defeat in the war, we lost 26% of the wheat crop area, 14 mines, 30 hydro plants and so on. By 2020 Artsakh had already become the driver of the economy of Armenia, that is, for 30 years Armenia, the Diaspora and the Artsakh people invested in Artsakh," said Mikayelyan.
According to him, in 2019, on average, Artsakh overtook the Republic of Armenia in terms of economic development and even began to ferry electricity back to Armenia (now it is no longer so), thanks to the development of cultivated areas it was instrumental in solving food security issues in Armenia.
As to the questioned point of view that investments directed to Artsakh allegedly went to nowhere, Mikayelyan said that such myths are born in the heads of politicians, who have some kind of political goals.
"This myth has never been supported by facts. Naturally, Artsakh received certain subsidies from Armenia, but it should be taken into consideration that all the regions in Armenia are subsidized from the state budget... All taxes are collected centrally and redistributed from Yerevan to regions in the form of subsidies," said the economist.
According to him, Armenia of course has helped Artsakh a lot, but that money was invested into the economy, because Armenia and Artsakh were coexisting in the common economic zone.
Earlier it was reported that in 2022, the Armenian government will provide budgetary support to Artsakh in the amount of about 144 billion drams (about $300 million). In 2021 the figure exceeded AMD 100bln.
In January 2021, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Military Insurance Fund Mesrop Manukyan presented some calculations, according to which, as a result of the defeat in the 44-day war in autumn 2020, Armenia and the Armenian people suffered damages worth of at least $38.4bln.
Particularly, according to his assessments, only the human losses (the dead, disabled and physically healthy but already incapacitated members of society) are estimated at $7 billion. The damage to the defense system is about $2 billion and due to the loss of part of Sotk gold deposit -about $8 billion. The cost of the lost HPP in Artsakh is about $600 million.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. -0
