ArmInfo.The economic downturn in Armenia is due to more internal factors than external ones. Economist, former mayor of Yerevan Vahagn Khachatryan expressed a similar opinion during a September 2 press conference. In this vein, he pointed to the sector of tourism, services, construction, stressing that the influence of the latter was more significant.
"We would be able to get a more favorable economic situation if we were able to maintain the foreseen growth rates in construction. But we did not do this, the reason for which was not external factors of influence, but the disorganized work of local government bodies and certain government bodies. In particular, due to the unhurried pace of adjusting internal processes associated with the granting of building permits, licenses, etc.>, the expert said.
At the same time, Khachatryan pointed to the presence of potential that can be used this year to overcome the existing obstacles in the management system. After that, in his opinion, if Armenia cannot come to positive economic indicators, then at least it will approach the zero mark of the economic recession. "There is a decline, and this needs to be fixed, but this decline was predictable and not as dangerous as it could have been," he said.
At the same time, he pointed to the financial system, where after the negative processes registered in March - the withdrawal of about 80-90 billion drams from the system, according to the latest data, the situation has normalized. <Citizens have returned their deposits. (A decrease in the total volume of the deposit portfolio was not recorded, a slight decrease in deposits of non-residents was recorded, Ed. note). In addition, the loan portfolio is growing rapidly. That is, the policy that the government pursued in order to mitigate the negative consequences of the coronavirus has yielded and is yielding results," Khachatryan stated.
According to the economist, the financial resources that the government provided within 24 packages of anti-crisis measures have yielded positive results in the economy. Khachatryan called the accusations of the former authorities of the failure of the current government in the fight against the coronavirus as political statements.
"The government's assistance was targeted and proceeded from the economy and capabilities of our country. We remember what happened and how the previous authorities behaved during crises. The help was provided only to the companies "beloved" by the authorities, which belonged to them. That is, during the crisis, they only helped themselves," he added.
In general, Khachatryan noted that the coronavirus showed that the world was not ready for such events, both in terms of economics and health. <In case of the 2nd wave of coronavirus, the world, including the economy and healthcare of Armenia, will be more ready. Everything will be done in a more organized way, and we will not have so many human losses, which, unfortunately, took place during this time. But I think, I'm even sure that the 2nd or 3rd wave of coronavirus should not be expected," he concluded.
It should be noted that according to the preliminary data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, economic activity in Armenia in January-July 2020 decreased by 5.7%, and the only industries that kept growing were the industrial sector and the energy complex. The decline in economic activity in January-July 2020 determined the sagging volumes of the construction sector - by 22.6%, the trade sector - by 10.9%, and the service sector - by 9.2%.
