YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. The World Bank forecasts 2.7% economic growth for Armenia in 2017, “Armenpress” reports WB’s “Trade in Transition” reports published in May informs.

According to the WB report, after the 3% economic growth in 2015, it nearly stopped in 2016, standing at 0,2%, mainly conditioned by the drop of metal prices in the international markets since metal exports have a significant share in Armenia’s exports.

“Starting from January, 2017, Armenia’s economy recorded some trends of progress, while the economic activation index amounted to 6.5%”, reads the report. The WB also notes that Armenia’s budget also recorded some growth thank to the consistent steps of the Government of Armenia in the direction of tax collection and state expenditures. The report also notes that the Central Bank of Armenia eased the monetary policy by lowering the refinancing rate to 6%.

According to the WB, the predicted 2.7% economic growth is conditioned by the expansion of the export oriented branches of Armenia and the “moderate” restoration of the domestic consumption.

The report predicts 3-3.5% mid-term growth considering the domestic shortcomings of the economic policy and the external uncertainties.  

It’s expected that by cutting state expenditures and full implementation of the tax code the budget deficit will remain under 3% of the GDP in the mid-term.

According to the WB’s assessment, the policy changes provided by the Tax Code will increase revenues by 2 percentage point of the GDP until 2021. “In the future poverty reduction will be based on the restoration of the domestic economy, labor market dynamics and inflow of monetary transfers”, the reports says, mentioning that poverty rate will decline from 23.8% in 2017 to 22.2% in 2019.

According to the WB, the prospects of Armenia’s economic growth depend on the efforts of the Government of Armenia to attract investments and implement structural reforms.