World Bank warned Armenian Government of the need for immediate implementation of structural reforms

ArmInfo. The lagging behind  in carrying out serious structural transformations in the economy,  including in the field of public administration, competition policy  and improving the business environment, may become the main risks for  Armenia. This is the opinion of the World Bank experts contained in  the updated analytical review of the Armenian economy.

According to the experts of the World Bank, despite some recovery of  the Russian economy and an increase in world commodity prices, the  main risks for the Armenian economy and its sustainable recovery are  contained in the absence or restriction of the implementation of  serious structural reforms. If Armenia does not take advantage of  this opportunity, supported by modest recovery trends, private  investment and productivity growth will remain weak with negative  consequences for employment, poverty reduction and maintaining an  acceptable level of debt. Since employment opportunities do not  appear in this case, the emigration of young and educated workers  will continue, this will further worsen the level of labor  productivity.

At the same time, the report notes that, nevertheless, the  medium-term outlook for the Armenian economy was slightly improved  last year due to the improved agenda for structural reforms,  especially in terms of improving the business and investment climate.  And, nevertheless, the main factor of improvement was a modest turn  of the Russian economy, which increased the flow of private transfers  to the country after seven years of a consecutive decline. At the  same time, slow recovery is expected in such sectors as construction  and agriculture. Higher copper prices should boost net exports. In  the opinion of WB experts, one should expect that the financial  situation in the country will noticeably improve and will be  conditioned by the fact that GDP growth will reach at least 4% in  2019. However, the ratio of debt to GDP (59.6% in 2018) will not  begin to decline until 2019. It is expected that consumer prices will  continue to grow, in part because of higher food prices.  Nevertheless, it is expected that inflation will remain below the  Central Bank's target of 4%, at least until the end of 2019.