Vahan Kerobyan: IT sector`s progressive development had major impact  on economic activity growth rate 

ArmInfo. The progressive development of the IT sector has had a significant impact on the  growth rate of economic activity. Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan stated, speaking during the 23rd annual congress of the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE).

He noted that in recent years, high economic indicators have been  recorded in Armenia and the industry has become attractive to both  local and foreign investors.

"We are now at the beginning of a new technological era. Artificial  intelligence, which is penetrating our lives on a large scale, will  become a significant factor in the context of increasing labor  productivity, which will lead to significant changes, including in  the economy and the IT sector," he noted.

During the meeting, the UATE strategy for the coming years was  adopted.

The event was attended by Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar  Hayrapetyan, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Hakob Arshakyan,  UATE Chairman Alexander Yesayan, other officials and industry  representatives.

According to the Ministry of Economy, participants discussed  challenges and key issues affecting the technology industry.

According to the Statistics Committee, the growth of economic  activity in Armenia in January-December 2023 slowed down to 9.4% per  annum (from 14.2% in 2022). The growth was largely determined by the  trade sector - with an acceleration of y-o-y rates from 17% to 25.7%,  and to a slightly lesser extent by the construction sector - with an  acceleration of rates from 12.5% to 14.8% and the service sector -  with a slowdown in rates 28.2% to 10.3%, against which the growth of  the industrial sector was more modest, slowing from 7.8% to 4.1%.

The information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) sector in  Armenia accelerated its growth rate from 65% to 67.3% in 9 months of  2023, providing 649.6 billion drams ($1.7 billion) in revenue.