ArmInfo. The effect of external factors on Armenia's GDP growth in 2022 amounted to over 6%, with the rest being due to the internal potential, Armenia's Deputy Minister of Economy Rafael Gevorgyan stated in an interview as he commented on the argument that the 2- digit economic growth in Armenia was due to relocated employees.
Gevorkyan noted that various geopolitical events and external factors, along with challenges, also create opportunities. "Another question is: do you have an economic system capable of realizing this potential and to what extent?" asked the deputy minister. In this vein, he drew attention to the fact that since 2018, the government has implemented a number of reforms, including anti-corruption ones, in the judicial and legal system, in the tax sphere, etc., which made it possible to create a comfortable environment for business. "There are no illegal demands placed on businesses," Gevorkyan emphasized. In this regard, he noted that a number of large international companies have decided to open/move their representative offices to Armenia, which is due to the existing environment.
At the same time, the deputy minister noted that by analyzing the structure of economic growth in 2022, he could conclude that growth was inclusive, as it was due to significant growth in priority areas. In particular, according to Gevorkyan, construction had an effect within 1%, over 2% - the financial sector, industry - over 1.5%. The IT and freight/logistics sectors also had a significant impact.
He noted that there is a lot of talk about the impact of the gaming sector on GDP growth, but at the end of 2022, as the deputy minister assured, this area had an impact close to zero. "But about 5-6 years ago, the driver of economic growth in Armenia was the gaming sector, along with the trade sector and manufacturing industry," he said.
According to the Statistics Committee, Armenia's GDP grew by 12.6% in 2022, reaching 8.497 trillion drams ($19.5 billion). The drivers of GDP growth in 2022 were largely the services sector - 28.2%, the trade sector - 17%, the energy complex - 16.1%, the construction sector - 12.5%, and to a slightly lesser extent the industrial sector - 7.9% .
Due to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, which was followed by large-scale anti-Russian sanctions from the collective West, a large number of citizens of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Belarus moved to Armenia and other countries. According to the latest data, about 110 thousand foreign citizens moved to Armenia, of which about 60 thousand - of Armenian origin. Relocated employees also moved their capital and business to the host country.
According to preliminary statistical data, in 2023 the growth of economic activity in Armenia slowed to 9.4% per annum. Growth in January-December 2023 largely determined by the trade sector (growth by 25.7%), the construction sector (by 14.8%), the service sector (by 10.3%) and industrial sector (by 4.1%).
