YEREVAN, September 26. / ARKA /. Armenia’s economy has not yet emerged from the crisis that struck it severely back in 2008, a former governor of Armenia’s Central Bank said today.
Speaking to ARKA, Bagrat Asatrian said the amount of private foreign transfers declined in the first 6 months of 2011 by 10% over the same period in 2008.
According to Central Bank of Armenia, the amount of individual money transfers to Armenia through the banking system in January-July this year totalled $772.4 million, increasing by 25% (or $154 million) from a year earlier.
According to the Central Bank, the amount of private transfers in 2008, 2009 and 2010 amounted to about $859 million, $562 million and $618 million respectively.Asatrian cited another indicator, which he said shows that the economy is still in crisis.
It is the amount of capital investment, which are less in 2011 than before the crisis. According to data of Armenian ministry of finance, the share of investments in the overall GDP in the first quarter of 2011 was 18.8%, down from 19.7% in the first quarter of 2010.
Asatrian said average annual investments ratio in GDP in 2010 fell to 33.4%, whereas in 2008 and 2009 it was 40.9% and 34.7% respectively.
Bagrat Asatrian argued that the anti-crisis program of the government was ineffective and ‘today we have just doubled the foreign debt.” He said loans are provided to Armenia at LIBOR +6%, which exceeds the average market rates.
According to Asatrian, a possible new crisis has no apparent connection with the previous one, and is based on entirely different reasons, particularly, on Europe’s and USA’s debt, budget and financing problems. According to the latest official data, Armenia’s economic activity index in August increased by 9.6% over the same period in 2010. –0-
