ArmInfo. Those economic and financial processes that began to develop in 2018 were associated with international developments, and primarily with the Russian- Ukrainian conflict. Former member of the National Assembly of Armenia, who for many years headed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Gagik Minasyan stated on February 16 during a conversation with journalists.
At the same time, he emphasized that the budget revenues are in no way related to the real sector of our economy. " What is brought by water will go with water", remarked the former MP. Minasyan emphasized that it is necessary to come to terms with the reality that over the past years, the current authorities have done nothing to develop the real sector. "It can be forecasted that those processes contributed to our economic growth will cease that in the near future. And we will be left with nothing," he said.
Pointing to the current high level of development of the banking system of Armenia in comparison with the countries of the post-Soviet space, Minasyan emphasized that this is all the result of the hard work of the previous 30 years.
According to the RA 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 a 17% to 25.7% acceleration of y-o-y rates, 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 modest, slowing from 7.8% to 4.1%.
Earlier, Deputy Minister of Economy of Armenia Rafael Gevorgyan, in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia, said that the effect of external factors on Armenia's GDP growth in 2022 amounted to over 6%, the rest was provided by internal potential.
Gevorgyan noted that various geopolitical developments 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 sector, etc., which has made it possible to create a business-friendly environment. "No illegal claims for business," Gevorgyan 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.
Due to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, which was followed by large-scale anti-Russian sanctions by 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. Immigrants also moved their capital and business to the host country.
