YEREVAN, April 10. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia intends to revise its outlook for economic growth in Armenia in 2017-2019 upward, the pres office of the regulator reported on Friday.
The central bank’s board decided so at its session held on March 28.
The regulator says in its news release that the country recorded 0.6% economic growth in 2016 instead of the projected 0.4% mainly because of a worse-than-expected decline in agriculture and construction sectors.
Nevertheless, the 6.2% economic activity indicator recorded in Jan-Feb 2017 was higher than expected.
Industry, retail trade, car sales market and services rallied more than other segments of the economy.
As a result, the economic growth outlook has been revised from 1.9% to 5.2%.
A 0.9 deflation was placed on record in February 2017 against the 1.4% deflation recorded in the same month a year earlier. As a result, the 12-month inflation stood at 0.2 percent.
The central bank forecasts that inflation in March will be between 0.2% and 0% instead of the projected 0.4%.
Taking into account inflation, economic activity and other developments, the central bank intends to revise in May economic growth outlooks for a period between 2017 and 2019 upward and to predict a faster reinstatement of inflation.
In its monetary policy report for the first quarter, the regulator predicted a 3.2-to-4.4-percent economic growth.
Economic growth prospects will still heavily depend on the government-run reforms, on the effectiveness of involvement of inside and outside investments and on the amount of the capital spending aimed at improvement of infrastructures.
In the 2017 government budget, GDP growth is projected at 3.2%. –0—
