Armenia country of four unicorns - Vahan Kerobyan

ArmInfo. Armenia is a country of four unicorns (private companies estimated at $1bln, Armenia's Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan stated at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the INNOPROM-2023 trade fair in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

It is a rather high figure for Armenia. A total of 12,000 companies were founded in Armenia last year, with 25% of them with foreign investments. In this context, Mr Kerobyan recalled that direct foreign investments in Armenia totaled $1bln last year, 5% of the country's GDP, and the total investments were $4bln (22% of the GDP). "And we see numerous projects on the way," Mr Kerobyan said.

Armenia's government is implementing its economic strategy at three levels: business environment, companies, and people. Mr Kerobyan stressed that the work at all the three levels is producing results.  Specifically, the 2-digit economic growth recorded last year is promising to grow.

Under the government economic modernization programme, 2,000 companies purchased and installed equipment worth over $300mln in the past year. "And it makes Armenia's economy more competitive," Mr Kerobyan said.

He also spoke of government investments in the country's education system. Moreover, the government has numerous programmes of retraining and employing international experts. 

January-May, 2023, annual 12% economic activity was recorded against 10.2% the previous period, with high export and import growth. This May, 13.7% economic activity was recorded against 13% last May, with a 7.7% rise this May alone against 6.1% last May and 3.4% this April. 

This January-May, economic activity growth was mainly due to trade (24.5%), services sector (19.9%), construction (16.7%), industry (3%), with a 3.1% decline in the energy sector.