Armenia’s government rep trying to “edit” prime minister’s statement on “extremely grave” economic situation

In the Armenian government, they are trying to interpret a recent statement by newly appointed Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan who said the economic situation in the country is “extremely grave.” Commenting on the statement, acting minister for economic integration and reform, deputy prime minister of Armenia Vache Gabrielyan said today that the country needs new approaches, a new model of economic development, and that the “new prime minister was speaking about this.”

“I think, the prime minister’s thesis will come out later. It appears to me that Karapetyan meant that the previous resources of development have been exhausted. Of course, his words did not mean that we had no economic growth or that the significant indicators do not correspond to reality. He was speaking about the former model of development that has run its course,” Gabrielyan said.

Last week, the new prime minister of Armenia told the parliament that the government develops a two-phase economic development program to achieve both short-term and long-term results. “We understand that the economy of Armenia is in an extremely grave situation. We should admit this. And the measures must be serious and well-thought,” Karapetyan said.

In response to the question of journalists today, the deputy prime minister said the grave economic situation does not impede new investments. In his words, the prime minister said the country needs more investments.

The deputy prime minister’s efforts to disclaim the links between the economic situation and the inflow of investments seem quite strange, considering that the real dynamics of investments is unfavorable even by official data. According to statistics, net inflow of investments in Armenia’s economy in 2015 totaled about 123 billion drams, of which more than 70 billion drams were direct foreign investments (DFI). As compared to 2014, the investment fell by 43 billion drams or 26%, amid 46 billion drams or 40% decline of FDI.