ArmInfo. From a political point of view, the justification for the extension of the Turkish import embargo is weakening. Head of the Ministry of Economy Vahan Kerobyan expressed a similar opinion during an interview on the telegram channel on December 29. "And you see that from a political point of view, the processes are proceeding according to a positive scenario," he said.
In this context, Kerobyan explained that the decision to impose a ban on the import of Turkish goods was based on political considerations and was made during the war. Lifting the embargo, in his opinion, will also be a political decision.
At the same time, the minister drew attention to the course of events both in Armenia and in Turkey over the past year. In this regard, he recalled the significant devaluation of the Turkish lira, which led to a reduction in the price of Turkish goods. This, according to Kerobyan, increased the level of threat for Armenian producers.
At the same time, he stressed that the government does not yet have a consensus on the situation with the extension of the ban on Turkish imports. However, the final decision, according to him, will be made during tomorrow's meeting (December 30, ed. note).
The minister also said that during the year the Ministry investigated the impact of the embargo on the economy. "We can say that the effect was both negative and positive," he said, noting that negative factors include the impact of the embargo on inflation, and positive factors include the formation of new import- substituting industries. In this regard, Kerobyan noted that the Ministry of Economy, after making a decision, should develop mechanisms to provide further support to producers, so that Armenia turns from an importing country into a producer country. "This is our fix idea - to become a producing country," he said. In this vein, the minister added that according to the government's program, it is planned to significantly increase the role of the manufacturing industry in the country's economy.
The ban on the import of Turkish goods was imposed after Turkey began to provide commensurately active military support to Azerbaijan during the war in Karabakh in the fall of 2020. The embargo came into effect on December 31, 2020 and lasted until July 1. After that, the decision was again made to extend it for another 6 months.
Earlier, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said that in 2020, goods worth $ 260 million were supplied from Turkey to Armenia, while the volume of Armenian exports amounted to about $ 2-3 million. At the end of 2021, according to Kerobyan, the volume of Turkish imports decreased 10 times, and the supply of Armenian goods was zeroed.
