Monday, January 22 2018 17:19

ArmInfo. The rise in prices for gasoline, diesel fuel and liquefied gas is due to an increase in the burden of servicing the external debt by 21 billion drams, the economist, chairman of the Union of Industrialists and Manufacturers Ra Vazgen Safaryan said at a January 22 press conference. According to him, this year, the state should allocate 140 billion drams for servicing the external debt, instead of 119 billion a year earlier.

Answering the question of ArmInfo, the expert noted that the development of industry can become one of the key directions for combating inflation and resolving social issues. According to him, today the industrial sector provides only 18% in the structure of GDP, whereas in the current conditions the volume of industry should be increased to 50%.

To the question "how" Safaryan noted that it is necessary to develop those areas of industry that worked effectively during the Soviet era. In particular, he noted the Aragats-Perlit plant. From the processing of perlite, according to Safaryan, it is possible to obtain products used in metallurgy, construction, chemical, food, pharmaceutical spheres, agriculture, heat and sound insulation, filtration, etc. Perlite production, according to his estimates, will annually provide export to the Russian market in the amount of $ 300-400 million. The expert noted the engineering directions on the basis of the development of the ferrous metallurgy, which, according to Safaryan, Armenia has available deposits. At the same time, he stressed the importance of creating cooperative relations in non-ferrous metallurgy. Speaking about the chemical industry, the head of the Union stressed that the sphere once provided about 7-9% in the structure of the national income.

"Today in the banking system of Armenia the amount of deposits reaches 1.7 trillion drams, of which 1.1 trillion is accounted for only by natural persons. This is despite the fact that there are large companies in Armenia that do not function due to a lack of funds, in particular, the plant Nairit, Vanadzor Khimprom, and Aragats-Perlit. According to Safaryan, the state has a key role to play here, in particular, to use the free funds of citizens to issue bonds, which can be invested in the restart of these promgigants. The state, according to the head of the Union, should take certain risks to involve private sector in these projects.  However, he thinks that the government does not want to see these opportunities: "The authorities are looking for easy ways. Maybe it will turn out that way, why take on a headache. "

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, the volume of industrial production in Armenia in January-November 2017, by the same period of a year ago, increased by 12.3% (against growth of 6.8% a year earlier), amounting to 1.491 trillion AMD ($ 3.1 billion).