YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh has recorded 16.1% economic growth in the first quarter of 2018, the main part of which comes from mining, State Minister of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan said on May 16 at the National Assembly during the discussion of the state budget performance of 2017. He added that in the current year the mine sphere that can ensure growth is again mining.

“Agriculture, mining and some areas of service that are linked with IT and tourism could be mentioned as the developing spheres of the economy. The construction works of dozens of HPPs have kicked off”, Harutyunyan said, adding that those constructions will lead to growth both in construction and energy.

As refers to agriculture, Harutyunyan noted that both qualitative and quantitative rise is recorded every year. “I foresee growth for this year. We have enlargement of cultivated land. We expect growth in harvesting than to the application of new technologies and installation of drip irrigation systems, while horticulture is our target. I am confident that in the upcoming years we will again record growth, since hundreds of hectares of new orchards are planted every year thank to the state policy, as well as attraction of investments”, Arayik Harutyunyan said.

English –translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan