YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. A Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the PM’s Office told Armenpress.

Prior to the discussion of the agenda issues, the Prime Minister touched upon economic indicators. “On May 27, the National Statistical Service published the macroeconomic indicators for April, and it should be noted that according to the data of the first four months, the economic situation in Armenia is characterized by positive and optimistic dynamics. According to published data, we had 9.2% economic activity index in April. And if we compare this figure with the data already collected in the first quarter, the gross domestic product has a 7.1% increase. This gives us grounds to say that the economy is showing positive trends, and our task is to stimulate that good mood through targeted capital expenditures in order to achieve better results.

Here I would like cite some important figures. In particular, the volume of industrial production increased by 13.2%. In the construction industry growth is less than we expected or wanted, but I am convinced that these figures will increase.

Why am I convinced that the situation in the mortgage market will inevitably bring about that result? Because we pursue the right policy since building projects or mortgages are not linked to individual developers or a specific development plan. In other words, we leave the market in the self-regulatory field and, as a result of increasing the demand for housing, I am sure that the construction activity will be more tangible, although we have seen some of those tangible shifts in the first quarter.

Trade turnover has increased by 9%, while the volume of services rose by 16.2%. To be honest, one of the most exciting figures in these indices is the increase in export volumes. Perhaps a month ago we had a working discussion with some of the worrying concerns about the export situation. We discussed the situation in detail, and I am happy that we recorded 9.9% growth in April. We also have some positive dynamics in the growth of average monthly nominal wages, and I think this dynamics will be more positive in the context of our decisions. And we also hope that as a result of the government’s policy, this dynamics of salary growth will be more noticeable in the private sector as well. And this should be one of our key issues for the upcoming period,” the Head of Government said.

RA Minister of Economic Development and Investments Tigran Khachatryan presented the main economic indicators. Nikol Pashinyan noted that the presented data further strengthened his statement about the good mood in the economy.

“And this is really good news. We must admit that in the past months we have been very focused on the economy. Now we have to be as much concentrated in dealing with problems in other areas as well, because comprehensive reforms are needed to translate the aforementioned positive trends into lasting and sustainable development, and we will do it,” the Prime Minister said.

Bagrat Badalyan, Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies, presented details on the planned road construction works.

The Head of Government highlighted the road construction in the context of economic development, emphasizing: “Of course, road construction is not the only component of capital construction, but it has two very important things. First, the development of infrastructures itself may spur the economy. I am sure that road construction and good traffic conditions may have a crucial psychological impact on the overall atmosphere in the country. We need to speed up the process without ignoring the quality aspect in order to refurbish the roads as soon as possible.”

Prime Minister Pashinyan then touched upon the application of the new law on the government’s structure.

“As a matter of fact, this is our last sitting in the given format. I want to thank all our colleagues for the work they have done during this time. I wish every success to those who will continue in office, and at the same time, I would like to thank all outgoing ministers for collaboration. I am convinced that through accurate decision-making we will have positive results in terms of performance quality on the way to implementing the Government’s vision and My Step’s electoral program,” the Head of Government said.

Nikol Pashinyan next touched upon the spending of surplus funds and set two key tasks before the government.

“First of all, we should be able to implement the planned programs this year and have two criteria for implementing them. First, the economic programs that will promote the economic development and will have some multiplier effect on our overall economic situation. It is also important that the projected costs be made in a visible manner, encompassing the regions as much as possible. Note that we are going to allocate 10 billion drams in subventions this year,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

In this respect, the Head of Government highlighted the rehabilitation of rural roads and turned to Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development Vache Terteryan and Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies Bagrat Badalyan: “Mr. Avinyan, if by this yearend we manage to do what we have projected in terms of roads, subventions and extra resources, we will have very good economic indices. Consequently, our task is to actively and intensively work in these three directions to see the results of the economic revolution in concrete figures.”

The government passed a series of decisions on the agenda issues. In particular, the government decisions will increase the number of beneficiaries of health and state-administered services by over 200,000.

9,144 thousand drams will be allocated to the Ministry of Culture from the government’s reserve fund to finance the design and expertise work on rehabilitation of D. Bejanyan’s “Road Builders” and Kh. Hakobyan’s “Ardzagank” monuments in Kotayk Marz.

Public-community-private partnerships are planned to be built by Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) standard A-class building and infrastructure at Yerevan's Tsitsernakaberd 33 and adjoining land plots. The Executive approved the investment program presented by Armen Ter-Tachatyan and agreed to sell the land plot directly to the latter.

The meeting next approved a Purchase Order Procedure, the purpose of which is to repair the road section leading to the Sevan Peninsula as soon as possible. By the decision of the government, the Armenian Student Sports Federation NGO will be provided money to participate in the 30th Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy, on July 3-14.