Armenian PM: There are very good opportunities to ensure a sharp increase in the Armenian economy

ArmInfo. "There are very good opportunities to ensure a sharp economic growth," Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said on March 19 at a meeting with participants in the operational gathering of the senior staff of the Armenian armed forces.

According to the press service of the Armenian government, the prime minister reminded the meeting participants that in 2017 it was possible to ensure a 7.5% GDP growth against the planned 3.2%. Last year's economic growth indicators, Karen Karapetyan continued, are the highest in the region, the CIS and the EAEU. At the same time, last year the industry grew by 12.6%, trade turnover - 14%, services sector grew - 14.4%, tourism - 24%. "The most interesting and most promising figure is the one that concerns the highest growth rates of exports and imports since independence, with exports increasing to $ 2.2 billion or 25.2% and imports by 27.8%. A very important figure is an increase in turnover by 26.9%," the prime minister said.

Karen Karapetyan presented also the economic indicators for January 2018. He noted that in comparison with January 2016, more than serious figures were recorded. "We are confident that in the next 4-5 years in Armenia there will be a consistent growth of the economy, which will differ from the growth rates both in the region, and in the CIS and the EAEU, as well as the EU countries and other states. GDP growth of 7.5% was recorded in the case when the average GDP growth in the world is 3.1%," the RA Prime Minister said.

He noted that the government of the country has taken a course on carrying out reforms in all spheres - territorial administration, anti-corruption policy, agriculture, information technology, tax and customs, introduction of the digital agenda and other directions. "We have a chance to ensure the rapid growth of Armenia's GDP: in the next 4-5 years, the GDP growth that we see will enable us to implement long-term fundamental reforms." These reforms are in many cases unpopular, in some cases the opposition army is large, but in case of little success, the process of their implementation will become easier. We also have a unique opportunity in the sense that having a small country with 3 million population could form a site on which they could combine incompatible" the head of the Armenian government said. In this context, he pointed to the trade preferences that are valid for Armenia in the framework of cooperation with the EAEU countries, the EU and a number of other states. According to him, the establishment of a free trade zone with Iran makes Armenia attractive for attracting investments and implementing investment programs, creates good opportunities for business development. The Armenian government is actively working towards presenting these opportunities to businessmen.

Karen Karapetyan said that the development program of Armenia until 2030 is currently under development, in which the goals will be presented and described by the President of Armenia in his speech at the National Assembly. The 5-year government program for the development of the country will become the ontology for achieving the set goals. "It is necessary to emphasize that a rather ambitious task has been set, but the team that works on the program every day is more than sure that it will be possible to fulfill all that has been planned," the RA Prime Minister stressed.