ArmInfo. Eurasian Development Bank will provide Armenia with funds for organization of import substitution, as the EDB's official press release informs, currently the bank discusses projects in the field of agriculture of Armenia, aimed at substituting sanctioned food products on Russian market.
To note, according to the official statistics foreign trade turnover of Armenia in 2015 declined by 20.6% as compared to 2014 (versus 1 % growth in 2014 and 5.6% growth in 2013) and totaled 2.3 trln AMD (4.7 bln USD). Export totaled 710.5 bln AMD (1.5 bln USD) in Jan-Dec 2015 with 3.9% year-over-year drop, and import totaled-1.6 trln AMD (3.3 bln USD) with year-over-year drop by 26.5%. According to the experts, drop of import was caused not only by crisis situation in the economy, decline of purchasing power of population and volatility of
ruble's exchange-value but also by the fact that part of goods produced in the countries of far abroad, was imported to Armenia via re-export from Russia. As a result "sanction war" partially affected drop of import to Armenia.
According to the Bank, as of December 29, 2015 EDB's investments in Armenia totaled 1.4% of total investment portfolio of the bank. Among important and strategic projects of EDB in Armenia are such projects as construction of North-South Road Corridor (4 Tranche), modernization of irrigation systems of Armenia, financing of which is realized through Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development.
Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial organization established to promote economic growth in its member states, extend trade and economic ties between them and to support integration in Eurasia. The Presidents of the Russian Federation and
the Republic of Kazakhstan established the Bank in 2006. The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Belarus and the Kyrgyz Republic became full members of the Bank In 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. The bank's established capital totals 7 bln
USD.