Opposition MP questions Armenia's economic growth numbers

YEREVAN, February 7. /ARKA/. A member of the Armenian parliament Tadevos Avetisyan from the opposition Hayastan (Armenia) alliance downplayed today the authorities’ optimism regarding the economic growth last year saying 3/4 of the 14.2% expansion was prompted by the Ukrainian-Russian conflict that forced tens of thousands of mostly Russian nationals to arrive in Armenia, who brought their money and prompted a strong surge in demand.

According to him, personal remittances sent to Armenia through banks last year from Russia amounted to about $3.6 billion, 4.2 times more than in 2021. He said these remittances are equivalent to 20% of Armenia's annual GDP.

Tadevosyan added hat trade turnover with Russia also increased unprecedentedly by almost 80%, but it was not only Armenian-made products that were exported, but also a great deal of products imported from other countries and sold to Russia.

"In 2018-2021, the average annual real growth of investment was only 3.5%. With growing security threats, further processes of attracting real investment are at risk," he said, adding that instead of a jump in growth promised for 2018-2021, GDP growth was only 2.8% year over year, and public debt is growing at 10% a year.

"Part of the external debt is not being spent and is not serving a major purpose because of failed management. Yet for these funds, we pay interest in the tens of millions from the state budget," he said.

Avetisyan stressed that Armenia's economic decline was 1.5 times the regional average in 2020 before the 44-day war began. He pointed out that in 2021, of the six countries in the region, only Armenia did not recover from the previous 2020 economic recession.