ArmInfo. The dominant growth rate of exports relative to imports in 2021 will be able to contain the increase in Armenia's negative trade balance. Economist, MP from the "Civil Contract" party Babken Tunyan stated in an interview.
At the same time, he noted that the growth of imports should not always be viewed from a negative perspective. In this regard, Tunyan urged to pay attention to the very structure of imports. According to him, if the positive dynamics is mainly associated with the import of equipment, then this will create the basis for increasing productivity, which in the future, respectively, will lead to an increase in exports of finished products.
At the same time, the economist noted that both in terms of structure and geographical coverage, Armenian exports are not so much. "In addition to trade relations with the EAEU, we export food to the EU, copper to European countries and China, tobacco - mainly to Arab countries. But there is no big diversification of export supplies", he said.
The MP believes that from the point of view of state assistance to exports, there are certain difficulties in assessing the effectiveness of the work of the trade missions of Armenia due to the lack of clear criteria. In particular, he noted that trade missions are responsible not only for expanding export markets, but also for attracting investment and creating joint ventures. In this context, Tunyan attached importance to the synchronized work of the government, the Ministry of Economy and other bodies.
Nevertheless, contrary to the MP's optimistic estimates, according to the latest data from the Statistical Committee of Armenia, the negative balance of the country's foreign trade for the first 11 months of last year increased by 9.7% per annum (against a 26.5% decline a year earlier and 4.4% - growth two years ago), amounting to $1.996 billion. In particular, the negative balance of Armenia's foreign trade with the EAEU countries, having increased by 3.4% over 11 months of 2021 (against an increase of 16.6% a year earlier and 17.5% two years earlier), amounted to $807.1 million, and the negative balance of Armenia's foreign trade with the EU countries, on the contrary, decreased by 40.7% over 11 months of 2021 (against a decline of 4.3% a year earlier and an increase of 13.5% two years ago), amounted to $230.3 million
All export items in January-November showed growth, except for machinery/apparatus, products made of stone, gypsum, cement, products from precious metals, etc. Mineral resources (copper-molybdenum concentrate) remain the leading item of Armenian export. Their growth amounted to 18.3% to $882.1 million, and prepared food products, which ranked second in terms of exports, increased by only 11.2% to $553.8 million. Their growth was 65.7% to $326.1 million
