Tuesday, March 19 2019 19:40

ArmInfo.In 2018, the net inflow of transfers to Armenia amounted to only $ 557 million.  Executive Director of the Union of Banks of Armenia (UBA) Seyran Sargsian said this at the final press conference."Despite the upward trend,  however, unfortunately, we did not achieve the figures recorded in  2013," he said, noting that according to the results of last year,  the inflow of transfers to Armenia amounted to $ 1.7 billion while  outflows reached $ 1.2 billion.

Arta Anesyan, the chairman of the UBA, expressed a different opinion  on this issue: "You say, unfortunately, but in my opinion, the less  dependence on external resources, the more developed the economy will  be, and citizens will have a job that meets their  requirements".A.Anesyan stressed that it would be preferable to  receive external resources in the form of investments, the level of  which is still quite low. "On average, direct investment in the  country's economy is $ 250 million, which is 10 times less than in  neighboring Georgia," the SBA chairman said.The development of  Armenian economics, according to A.Anesyan, mainly depends on bank  lending today. "And it's right when the economic growth factor is an  efficient dynamically developing capital market. I very much hope  that the situation will improve over time, and investor confidence in  the Armenian market will increase. 

We intend to contribute to this process through the correct  positioning of the country, the economy, and the development of good  business programs, "he concluded.According to the forecasts of the  World Bank, the ratio of foreign direct investment to GDP in Armenia  in 2019 will be 3.5%, and in 2020 - 3.9%. And in terms of GDP growth  in Armenia, the WB forecasts 4.3% in 2019 and 4.6% in 2020, with  greater growth coming from the industrial sector - 6.1% in 2019 and  5.3% in 2020.According to the Central Bank of Armenia, in 2018 the  inflow of transfers of individuals to Armeniaslowed growth to 1.7%  from 14.6% in 2017, reaching $ 1,786 billion.This growth rate of  outflow of transfers slowed slightly - from21.2% in 2017 to 20.1% in  2018, reaching $ 1.188 billion. This worsenedthe dynamics of the net  inflow of transfers from 7.1% growth in 2017 to22.1% decline in 2018,  forming at the level of $ 597.2 million. In the inflowRussia's share  declined in 2018 from 60.6% to 58.8%, and in the outflow, on the  contrary, increased from 38% to 39.7%.According to the RA Statistical  Committee, in January-September 2018, compared with the same period  of 2017, the volume of total foreign investments in the real sector  of the Armenian economy grew by 10.8% to $ 1.7 billion.

 FDI in total foreign investments for the first 9 months of 2018  accounted for 22, 6% (vs. 30.7% a year earlier) or $ 385.4 million,  which is lower than the figure for the same period of 2017 by 18.4%.  The total data of 2018 on foreign investment has not yet been  summarized.According to the Financial Ratings of Banks of Armenia as  of December 31, 2018, prepared by ArmInfo IC, the volume of bank  crediting to the economy was 2.1 trillion drams, with an annual  output of 8.8% growth in 2017 in 2017 by 8.8%. The dominant sectors  of the economy in terms of lending are SMEs, the trade sector and the  industrial sector.