Former MP on economic situation in Armenia: "What is brought by water  will go with water"

ArmInfo. Those economic and financial processes that began to develop in 2018 were associated  with international developments, and primarily with the Russian- Ukrainian conflict. Former member of the National Assembly of Armenia, who for many years headed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Affairs  Gagik Minasyan stated on February 16 during a conversation with journalists.

At the same time, he emphasized that the budget revenues are in no  way related to the real sector of our economy. " What is brought by  water will go with water", remarked the former MP.  Minasyan  emphasized that it is necessary to come to terms with the reality  that over the past years, the current authorities have done nothing  to develop the real sector. "It can be forecasted that those  processes contributed to our economic growth will cease that in the  near future. And we will be left with nothing," he said.

Pointing to the current high level of development of the banking  system of Armenia in comparison with the countries of the post-Soviet  space, Minasyan emphasized that this is all the result of the hard  work of the previous 30 years.

According to the RA Statistics Committee, the growth of economic  activity in Armenia in January- December 2023 slowed down to 9.4% per  annum (from 14.2% in 2022). The growth was largely determined by the  trade sector - with a 17% to 25.7% acceleration of y-o-y rates, and  to a slightly lesser extent by the construction sector - with an  acceleration of rates from 12.5% to 14.8% and the service sector -  with a slowdown in rates 28.2% to 10.3%, against which the growth of  the industrial sector was modest, slowing from 7.8% to 4.1%.

Earlier, Deputy Minister of Economy of Armenia Rafael Gevorgyan, in  an interview with the Public Television of Armenia, said that the  effect of external factors on Armenia's GDP growth in 2022 amounted  to over 6%, the rest was provided by internal potential.

Gevorgyan noted that various geopolitical developments and external  factors, along with challenges, also create opportunities. "Another  question is: do you have an economic system capable of realizing this  potential and to what extent?" asked the deputy minister. In this  vein, he drew attention to the fact that since 2018, the government  has implemented a number of reforms, including anti-corruption ones,  in the judicial and legal system, in the tax sector, etc., which has  made it possible to create a business-friendly environment. "No  illegal claims for business," Gevorgyan emphasized. In this regard,  he noted that a number of large international companies have decided  to open/move their representative offices to Armenia, which is due to  the existing environment.

Due to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, which was followed by  large-scale anti-Russian sanctions by the collective West, a large  number of citizens of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus  moved to Armenia and other countries. According to the latest data,  about 110 thousand foreign citizens moved to Armenia, of which about  60 thousand- of Armenian origin. Immigrants also moved their capital  and business to the host country.