ArmInfo.Armenian Minister of Economic Growth and Investment Tigran Khachatryan is not worried about today's low inflation. Khachatryan declared this on May 3 at a press conference answering the question of ArmInfo.Note that in 2018, with GDP growing at 5.2%, inflation was only 1.8%instead of the target of 4% (+ - 1.5%).
Meanwhile, the year 2017 the country has completed withinflation by 2.6% with an economic growth of 7.5%. At the same time by the end of 2016growth of the Armenian economy froze at 0.2%, and inflation was replaced by deflationat 1.1%. In the first quarter of this year. inflation was alarming for a number of experts 1.5%.
So, in an interview with ArmInfo, the ex-Minister of Finance of Armenia Vardan Aramyan noted that the government should be concerned about the low inflationary background, as it speaks of a decline in demand and the level of purchasing power of citizens, which, in turn, can slow down the planned economic growth.Tigran Khachatryan, meanwhile, agreed that it would be desirable for annual inflation to reach the cherished 4% for the Armenian economy, but according to him, the current figure below target is nonetheless temporary. "During the year, the country's monetary policy in the short term should respond to changes in the economy so that controlled inflation would be closer to the target," he said.At the same time, according to Khachatryan, even if by the end of 2019 inflation is significantly below the target, it will not be a threat to the 4.9% GDP growth planned by the state budget.
"Whether low inflation speaks about a decrease in aggregate demand and the purchasing power of the population is difficult to say since there is no evidence of this. According to statistics, the growth rate of economic activity is in the range of 4-5%, therefore, in this case it cannot be a factor impeding demand, prices and the business environment, "he said.