Head of Armenian CB Arthur Javadyan left for Washington to take part in annual session of Councils leading IMF and WB group organizations

ArmInfo. Head of the Central Bank of Armenia Artur Javadyan left for Washington on a working visit to attend the annual meeting of the IMF Board of Governors and the WB group of organizations in 2017. According to the  press service of the Central Bank of Armenia, ,Javadyan will also take part in the plenary meetings and the meeting of the countries of the Netherlands / Belgium subgroup of the IMF and WB.

Besides, meetings with WB Vice President Cyril Mueller and WB Executive Director Frank Gemskerk, EBRD Vice President Alain Pilloux, IMF Executive Director Anthony de Lannoy and Director of the IMF Middle East and Central Asia Department Jihad Azuri are scheduled.

It is also planned to hold working discussions on topical issues related to regional economic development and the international financial market.

The current annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington will start on October 12.  Participants in the person of finance ministers, heads of central banks, leading economists, professors, business representatives from all over the world will discuss the challenges facing countries and the global economy as a whole.

To recall, in the Netherlands / Belgium subgroup, the IMF and WB include 15 countries: Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Romania, Ukraine, Montenegro.

To note, according to the IMF forecast, Armenia's GDP growth in 2017 will be 2.9%, according to the WB forecast - 2.7%, with the acceleration of the rate in 2018 to 3.1%, in 2019 - up to 3.4%. According to the forecast of the EDB in 2017, the GDP of Armenia is expected to grow by 2.9%, the Asian Development Bank - by 2.2%. Fitch improved the forecast for GDP growth in Armenia in 2017 from the previous 2.1% to the current 3.4% with an acceleration to 3.6% in 2018. The state budget of Armenia for 2017 laid the GDP growth by 3.2%, but the government voiced a 5% growth. According to the updated forecast of the Central Bank, Armenia's GDP growth in 2017 will be 3.9-4.8%.

According to Armenian National Statistics service data, economic activity in January-August 2017 increased by 5.5% per annum, against growth of 2.4% over the same period in 2016. Growth acceleration was mainly triggered by industry (12.4%), services (12.4%) and trade (12.3%). Foreign trade turnover in this period increased by 24.4% per annum, due to the growth of exports by 21.7% and imports - by 26%. In 2016, Armenia's GDP growth slowed to 0.2% from 3.2% in 2015, while deflation of the demand reached 1.1% in 2016, from 0.1% in 2015.