YEREVAN, October 18. / ARKA /. Armenia is not among the countries that may be threatened by a second wave of crisis, according to Yvonne Tsikata, director of a World Bank division for poverty reduction and economic management.
“If we consider the impact of the crisis in a broader sense, in particular its impact on economic growth or on demand – Armenia may face its consequences But now the threat is far enough, affecting Eastern European countries “, she said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Noting that the World Bank today is more focused on Eastern Europe, particularly on the Balkan countries, Yvonne Tsikata said to date there are three major factors that are important from the standpoint of possible second wave of the global crisis and its impact on national economies.
According to her, the first of these factors is trade that in the context of Eastern European countries largely depends on the situation in Greece and Italy, as their main trade partners.
“In the context of Armenia, taking into account the fact that exports of mining products is implemented mainly through Russia, and foreign investment, particularly in tourism, are coming from France, as well as the fact that Russia and France demonstrate good performance, we can argue that Armenia has no serious problems in the area of trade,” she said.
Speaking on the second factor – the banking sector, Yvonne Tsikata said that this segment of the Armenian economy has little connection with the banking systems in Greece or Italy, and given the fact that interest rates due to lack of liquidity problems are not high, this factor will not be a problem for Armenia.
The third factor, according to Tsikata is the foreign currency.
“Given the fact that the basic currency in the euro zone is euro, shocks in Greece or other European countries may affect this currency, and Armenia, in this sense in some way is protected, because basically it does not use this currency,” she said. -0-
