YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on March 19 had a meeting with the participants of the operative meeting of the leadership staff of the Armenian Armed Forces in the defense ministry, the government told Armenpress.

The PM said this meeting is a good platform to discuss the economic and social issues facing Armenia. In his remarks he noted: “I want to inform you where we are, what we are going to do and how we see the economy’s development in the future years.

We had 7.5% economic growth in 2017: this is the highest number in the region, CIS, EAEU. We have forecast 3.2% economic growth while forming a budget for 2016. In line with the 7.5% economic growth we have the following figures: industrial growth – 12.6%, trade turnover growth – 14%, services growth – 14.4%, tourism growth – 24%. The most important and prospective figure for us is the figure of exports worth 2.2 billion USD, which is the highest since independence: the export increased by 25.2%, and the import by 27.8%, and the figure of foreign trade turnover (26.9%) is also very important”.

PM Karapetyan also introduced the macroeconomic indicators of January 2018 and said compared to January 2016 progressive figures have been recorded. “We are confident that we will have a stable economic growth in the upcoming 4-5 years which will be different from that of the region, the CIS, the EAEU member states and the European countries. For comparison I want to state that our 7.5% economic growth was recorded when the world’s average economic growth was estimated 3.1%”.

Karen Karapetyan said the government initiated reforms in all spheres, such as territorial administration, anti-corruption policy, agriculture, IT, tax, customs fields, Armenia’s digital agenda and etc. “We have a very interesting and prospective opportunity to ensure high growth in Armenia. The economic growth we forecast for the upcoming 4-5 years will enable us to make fundamental reforms”, he said.

“Yes, a lot of issues are still unresolved, but we already receive a great satisfaction from the fact how our provincial teams imagine their issues. The presented reports are quite promising and prospective”, the PM noted.

Summing up his speech, PM Karapetyan stated: “I want to assure you that today the government clearly knows how to change the country’s socio-economic situation. We clearly understand that we are going to have a good, logically developing and fair country. I want to thank you for your service and also to partly convey the confidence that the work you do is highly appreciated by all of us. It’s very important function without which our country has no future, and in the back we will ensure the economic factors, the socio-economic developments for you to feel calm”.

English –translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan