ArmInfo.Acting Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan called the forecast for the growth of Armenian GDP for 2021, voiced by acting Prime Minister Pashinyan today, at the level of 6%, instead of 3.2% laid down in the law "On the state budget for 2021", conservative.
On July 1, after a government meeting, in an interview with reporters, Kerobyan recalled that at the end of 2020 he assured that Armenia is capable of reaching a double-digit GDP growth rate by the end of 2021. As pointed out by the acting, Head of the Ministry of Economy, over the past weeks, almost all international structures, the Central Bank of Armenia have adjusted their expectations - significantly increasing the forecast for growth, which is a very positive sign. "Now we are moving along the path that I planned, and the plan to end the year with double-digit economic growth remains in force," Kerobyan said.
Let us remind you that today, before the start of the government meeting, acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said that the forecast for the growth of Armenian GDP for 2021 is being revised upward - from 3.2%, laid down in the Law on State Budget for 2021, to 6%. Pashinyan backed up his words with data on tax collections for the first half of the year. In particular, as chairman of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia Eduard Hovhannisyan said, for January-June 2021, the actual tax collections of the Armenian state treasury are 750.2 billion drams, instead of the planned figure of 683 billion drams. The adjusted program indicator for the reporting period, according to him, will make 697.7 billion drams. In this context, the overfulfillment for the first 6 months will amount to 52.5 billion drams.
To note, economic growth in the state budget for 2021 is provided at 3.2%, and inflation is set at 4% (+/- 1.5%). The Central Bank of Armenia yesterday improved its forecast for GDP growth for 2021 to 4.6% (from 1.4% previously projected), relying on relatively high upward rates in the industrial and service sectors. According to the updated forecast of the World Bank, GDP growth in Armenia in 2021 will be 3.4%, accelerating to 4.3% in 2022 and 5.3% in 2023.
