YEREVAN, JANUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. Geopolitical conflicts, including the flare-up of aggression between Azerbaijan and Armenia continue negatively impacting on the economies of CIS countries, the international rating and research organization Moody’s says in a report.

The report mentions: “All CIS sovereigns should grow slightly faster in 2017 than in 2016. Moody's forecasts median growth to rise to 2.0% in 2017 from 1.0% in 2016, and a further rise to 3.0% in 2018.”

“Geopolitical conflicts also will continue to weigh on the CIS economies, mainly because of the impact of Western sanctions on Russia and the conflict in eastern Ukraine but also due to the flare-up of aggression between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Of the nine CIS sovereigns rated by Moody's, only Belarus and Kazakhstan are not engaged in a military conflict or border dispute with a neighbor”, the report says.