Mortgage loaning stimulates growth of construction in Armenia

ArmInfo. "This year the sphere of construction and repair of Armenia will occupy serious positions in the structure of GDP," said Arsen Ghazaryan, president of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Armenia (ARP), speaking to ArmInfo on March 2 on the margins of the 15th specialized exhibition - CAUCASUS: CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR EXPO . In this vein, he noted that progress in the sphere of construction of Armenia became tangible only from the second half of 2017. Before that, in the last 5-6 years, the volume indicators were more than modest, Ghazaryan said.

Taking into account a number of serious infrastructural programs that will be implemented this year, including those related to residential real estate, according to ghazaryan, the indicators for the volume of construction work in Armenia could double. In his opinion, growth will largely be achieved thanks to the advancement in the mortgage lending market, the results of which are becoming more effective, he stressed.

Assessing competitiveness, the President of the CPR noted that domestic products have reduced their export positions lately. "If over 10 years ago, Armenian stone and tiles were successfully exported to foreign markets, today the state can not boast of such a boast," he stressed. According to Ghazaryan, to increase competitiveness, the sphere needs investments, in particular, to replace the outdated equipment for processing raw materials. "Today our main task is to ensure the quality and introduction of technologies to compete in foreign markets," he concluded.

The organizers of the fifteenth international specialized exhibition were the LOGOS EXPO Center and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Armenia, which is supported by the RA Ministry of Economy, the Union of Builders of Armenia, the Union of Architects of Armenia and the Union of Designers of Armenia. Over 80 companies from Armenia, Russia, Iran, Latvia, Germany take part in the exhibition. The event is a unique platform for the creation and development of business relations between construction companies and is aimed at finding new sales markets and business partners, attracting foreign investments to the Armenian economy.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, the construction sphere of Armenia by the results of 2017 showed an increase of 2.2% to 415.8 billion drams. In particular, the volume of repair and installation works for the reporting period amounted to 369 billion drams, with an annual growth of 3.1%.  In 2016 the sphere showed a decline of 10.8%, in 2015 - by 2.1%.