Thursday, March 29 2018 13:06

ArmInfo. The staff of the apparatus of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), headed by the head of the IMF mission to Armenia Hossein Samiye, visited Armenia on March 14-28 with the purpose of holding preliminary discussions on a new program of cooperation.  According to the information of the press-service of IMF  Armenian office, the  International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Mr. Hossein Samiei visited Yerevan during March 14-28 to conduct initial discussions on a possible new IMF arrangement with Armenia. At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Samiei issued the following statement:

"The staff team welcomes the government's intention to implement a comprehensive reform agenda, supported by the 2017-22 development program. This agenda appropriately aims at promoting higher and more inclusive growth. A possible new IMF-supported arrangement would assist the government in achieving Armenia's vision to become a diversified middle-income economy.

"We held productive discussions on policies and actions for the rest of 2018 and the medium term. Good progress was made in identifying reform priorities and policies to maintain macroeconomic and fiscal stability. The discussions will continue over the coming months.

 During the visit, the team met with Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielyan, Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan, Central Bank Governor Arthur Javadyan, Minister of Economic Development and Investment Suren Karayan, State Revenue Committee Chairman Vardan Harutyunyan, as well as other senior government officials, representatives of civil society, the private sector, and the international community. The team would like to thank the authorities for their cooperation and hospitality.

Recall that Armenia became a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on April 28, 1992.  According to the agreement signed in 2009 with the aim of mitigating the impact of the global economic crisis, the IMF provided Armenia with a loan of 127.6 million SDR (Special Borrowing Rights) within the framework of the Stand-byArangement program, and later, under the "Long-Term Credit Instrument" (Extended Credit Facility (ECF)), based on the agreements between the government of RA and the IMF for 2010 and 2012. the government of the Republic of Armenia was granted a loan totaling 101.8 million SDR.

The IMF provided program assistance to the country under the "Long-Term Financing" (EFF) program from 2014 to 2017. The program, valued at 82.21 million SDR or $ 111.57 million, was approved on March 7, 2014. The goal of the program is to assist the country's economy by supporting the balance of payments, as well as the macroeconomic policy agreed with the Armenian authorities. On December 9, 2016, the IMF Executive Board completed the fourth final audit of the implementation of the EFF program in Armenia, according to which the fund approved financing to the country in the amount of 15.65 million SDR or $ 21.24 million. Thus, as noted in the IMF report, of this program, the total amount of appropriations was brought to 66.52 million SDR or about $ 90.28 million.

In May 2017, in an exclusive interview with ArmInfo, the Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan informed that Armenia intends to continue close cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World The Bank (WB) to implement programs to reform the economy and social sphere. According to Aramyan, the key to the expected agenda of cooperation will be to ensure the continuity of economic reforms.

Earlier, during the April visit of 2017 to Armenia, the head of the IMF mission for Armenia Hossein Samiyey stated that the agreements reached with the Armenian government on the basis of the last generalization were, in fact, fulfilled. "The progress in implementing the agreements reached during the last generalization of the IMF team is acceptable for the organization, and is assessed as" satisfactory, "he said.However, in June of the last year, congratulating Armenia on the 25th anniversary of membership in the IMF, the Deputy Managing Director of the  International Monetary Fund, Zhang Tao, noted the need to continue work to diversify and modernize the country's economy:"

Over the past 25 years, Armenia has made significant progress in ensuring macroeconomic stability, mpov economic growth, inflation targeting, and a relatively good control of fiscal policy.

Recall also that according to the program of the Government of Armenia, during 2017-2022. the Armenian government claims to reach outperforming in comparison with many developed countries of the world economic growth by providing an annual GDP growth of 5% on average. The document provides for an increase in exports to 40-45% in the country's GDP, a 12% drop in the unemployment rate, with parallel growth in employment and wage levels, with an increase in the nominal minimum wage by 25%. The government of Armenia also intends to increase the number of tourists visiting the republic to 3 million a year, and also in the context of the next 5 years to rise to the 25th position in the rating of the World Bank Doing Business.