ArmInfo.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan promised that if the peace agenda is implemented, Armenia's economy will begin to grow exponentially, then he interrupted himself, clarifying with a smile that it was already a little exaggerated.
And yet, in his interview with the PTA, Pashinyan noted that the country has all the prerequisites for maintaining high economic growth. This year, up to 13-14%, and in 2023 - up to 7%. He emphasized that the impact of GDP growth on improving the lives of citizens should be considered not only in terms of wage growth, the average of which increased by 16% over the year, but also in terms of government measures aimed at a 20% increase in healthcare funding, unprecedented growth the number of new jobs, an increase to 22 billion drams in budget financing of subvention programs aimed at road construction and improvement of local infrastructure. According to him, this year the state returned 41 billion drams from the income tax paid by them to residents as part of state support for mortgage lending programs.
Pashinyan cited high inflation as the biggest problem, although he said Armenia recorded the lowest consumer price growth in the region.
The prime minister agreed with the opinion that a significant revaluation of the national currency creates difficulties for importing producers, but suggested looking at this problem from the point of view of the existing fundamental factors inherent in a market economy. "Today we are proud to be ranked 11th out of 165 countries in the Economic Freedom Index. Armenia has proved that it is a country with an open market economy. Yes, there are concerns, but there are also market realities. The Armenian government cannot set the dram exchange rate, and if the government interferes in exchange rate policy like this, I am sure that our economy will only lose from this>, Pashinyan emphasized.
He noted that the government is well informed about the situation resulted from the revaluated dram. "Our team of experts, together with the Central Bank specialists, is constantly discussing this issue. Although we believe that we are pursuing the right economic policy, as evidenced by unprecedented economic growth, we know that we must listen to the opinion of the business community, to the messages coming from it. They need to be analyzed, which is what we are doing. And if there are objective reasons, then they should be responded to using the right tools, and in no case should one interfere in the monetary policy of the Central Bank. Otherwise, we will lose our marketability. It is very important for us to maintain our leading position as a market state on the economic map of the world>, Pashinyan said.
It should be noted that as of the end of October, inflation in Armenia amounted to 9.5%, which is a high figure compared to the target level of 4%. According to the head of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia Martin Galstyan, the revaluation of the dram significantly restrained the inflation rate, without this factor it would have reached at least 14%.
