Armenian Finance Ministry expects GDP growth at the end of 2017 at 6% and more

ArmInfo. Minister of Finance of Armenia Vardan Aramyan expects that by the end of the year the economy of Armenia will grow by 5.5-6%. On October 25, answering the question of ArmInfo, the head of the Armenian Ministry of Finance said. According to the minister, at the end of September 2017, the Armenian Ministry of Finance, increasing its expectations from the budgeted for the current year indicator of 3.2% to 4.3%, today still continues to show a conservative approach in its forecasts. In the opposite case, as the head of the Ministry of Finance noted, being guided by the upper limit of the forecasted range, there is a danger of making mistakes according to the forecasts of the tax revenues.

Nevertheless, the economic growth by the end of the year, as Aramyan noted, promises to be higher than planned in the Budget-2017 indicator of 3.2%, as evidenced by high economic activity indicators for 11 months of 2017. "We are sure that by the end of 2017 the GDP growth of Armenia will be in the range of 5.5-6%, perhaps even the indicator will be exceeded," Vardan Aramyan said.

Earlier, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated at a meeting with representatives of the business community that Armenia might close the year 2017 with GDP growth at the level of 6%. A week earlier, the Armenian Ministry of Economic Development and Investments also revised the forecast for GDP growth for 2017 - from 3.2% recorded in the budget for the current year to 7% or more. Answering the question of ArmInfo, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia Tigran Khachatryan stated on December 21 that according to operational statistics for January-November of 2017, in comparison with the same period in 2016, unprecedented growth was registered - the index of economic activity of Armenia grew by 7.3%. The leaders of growth were trade, services and the industrial sector - an increase of 14.4%, 14.2% and 12.3%, respectively. The volume of exports has undergone annual growth of 23.5% to 971.4 billion drams ($ 2013.8 million), and imports - an annual growth of 28% to 1,819 billion drams ($ 3,770.4 million). According to him, the indicator of economic activity for the year will remain at the current level, which will inevitably affect the quality of life of the country's population. "I think that the budgeted GDP growth rate of 3.2% by the end of 2017 will be much higher - up to 7% or more," concluded Tigran Khachatryan.

The Budget-2017 predicts GDP growth at the level of 3.2%. Nevertheless, by the third quarter, the Ministry of Finance of Armenia, based on the analysis of the Central Bank of Armenia, exceeded its expectations - up to 4.5% or more. Meanwhile, the year 2016 Armenia closed with economic activity of 0.5%, GDP growth was 0.2%. Next year GDP growth is expected at 4.5%.