Armenia's Economic Pulse

[londontsi]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

........ The bad part is that the IMF and the world bank are notorious for lending too much (knowing the loans cannot be repaid) and then taking over the country like they have done to England and most recently to Greece. I think we do need to be wary of having too much debt yet there is still much developing left to be done.

Exactly that was my concern.

Interesting watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze1lquOST9Y

[Mos]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Most of it seems to be infrastructure development loans and that is good because that can pay for itself over time. The bad part is that the IMF and the world bank are notorious for lending too much (knowing the loans cannot be repaid) and then taking over the country like they have done to England and most recently to Greece. I think we do need to be wary of having too much debt yet there is still much developing left to be done.

Unfortunately, we owe a lot to the US controlled IMF and World Bank. Being financially in bed too much with them is always a risk factor.

[londontsi]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

.

.

[Haykakan]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

3000dram/12hours=250dram/hour
$1=475 dram
So its like $0.60/hour if what the caller was saying is correct. That is very depressing.

[londontsi]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

3000dram/12hours=250dram/hour
$1=475 dram
So its like $0.60/hour if what the caller was saying is correct. That is very depressing.

Just to qualify this was posted on you-tube FEB 2013 ..... still terrible.

What's more more concerning the President had no clue about job situation in his country ( assuming he was not lying )


What is unforgivable that Daron Margaryan idiot lying through his teeth to the President and the public .

.

[Haykakan]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Just to qualify this was posted on you-tube FEB 2013 ..... still terrible.

What's more more concerning the President had no clue about job situation in his country ( assuming he was not lying )


What is unforgivable that Daron Margaryan idiot lying through his teeth to the President and the public .

.

Well what choice did he really have? He was put on the spot without warning. I bet he had some things to say to Serj later.

[Mher]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Unfortunately even 150,000 AMD, about 330 USD, is not enough to support yourself, let alone a family in Yerevan. But that's the nature of the work. It's low skilled work, that almost anyone can do. And in a country like Armenia, you don't have the luxury of having a large tax base like the US, and paying government low skilled workers above the pay them would receive in the private sector.

The fact is, with a college degree and some basic valuable skills you can expect to start at over $500 USD/month in most careers in Armenia.

[Haykakan]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Unfortunately even 150,000 AMD, about 330 USD, is not enough to support yourself, let alone a family in Yerevan. But that's the nature of the work. It's low skilled work, that almost anyone can do. And in a country like Armenia, you don't have the luxury of having a large tax base like the US, and paying government low skilled workers above the pay them would receive in the private sector.

The fact is, with a college degree and some basic valuable skills you can expect to start at over $500 USD/month in most careers in Armenia.

Good point there Mher. What Armenia needs is improvement on the macro level. Such improvements can only come with things like massive investment and spending on things like infrastructure and opening borders, establishing trade routes.. We are seeing some investment spending going on but it is important to control the level of debt. I think Armenia should limit further barrowing from the IMF and world bank because of the predatory nature of these institutions and the high levels of debt already owed to them. I think it makes perfect sense to for example to build the Iran-Armenia railroad using the Chinese backed Eurasian bank. China cares about Iran's interests because it relies on it for energy. This railroad therefor serves the interests of Armenia, Iran, China, and quite possibly many other countries thus I think Armenia can and should secure funding for this project and it should do so using sources other then the USA based financial system. Such projects are worth doing because they provide an initial stymulis as they are being built and continue providing economic growth once they are completed. This railroad project in addition to these benefits will also provide Armenia and Iran (and many other countries) with a new trade route as well. I hope this gets done.

[Haykakan]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

TOURISM INDUSTRY: NUMBERS OF VISITORS RISE, CHALLENGES REMAIN

SOCIETY | 30.07.15 | 10:49

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow

By SARA KHOJOYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

While Armenia is seeking in the next two decades to triple the number
of tourists it hosts, opening new hotels for the purpose, the country's
tourism industry still faces a lot of challenges, experts say.

Consumers Association Chairman Armen Poghosyan argues that at some
hotels in Armenia, for example, people do not get sufficient service.

"Hotels do not provide the full range of services, the number of
complaints does not decrease," he claimed at a press conference
on Wednesday.

Sociologist Aharon Adibekyan added that rural tourism in Armenia faces
more problems. "Many in villages today cannot provide accommodation
to visitors because their guesthouses have no bathrooms, no running
water or washing machines. All this must definitely become available,"
he said.

In Adibekyan's opinion, some peculiar thing, such as food and tourist
programs, need to be offered to attract visitors from abroad.

"Once there was an idea to develop religious tourism in Armenia,
but the project has remained on paper."

Still, statistics shows that the number of holidaymakers in Armenia -
both local and foreign tourists - is growing.

In 2014, as compared to the previous year, the number of foreign
tourists visiting Armenia increased by 11.3 percent to over 1.2
million. The number of internal tourists in the country with a
population of some 3 million people also grew by 28.4 percent -
to some 859,000.

Inbound tourism indicators have been increasing not least due to
Western sanctions imposed against Russia, as the flow of Russian
tourists to Armenia increased. For instance, travel.ru, a Russian
online tourist service, has included Yerevan in the top three
destinations for Russian tourists in the former Soviet Union for the
summer of 2015.

"The Russians do not want to rest where they already were once. And
Armenia attracts tourists by its novelty and delicious food,"
sociologist Adibekyan suggested.

The Armenian government is carrying out numerous projects in order
to ensure tourism industry growth.

Tigran Karapetyan, director of the tourism department of the Armenia
Development Fund, said that their goal is to change the type of tourism
and to use the vast resources that exist in Armenia for that purpose.

"There is a system of tourism, which was formed during the Soviet
years, and as a result of which it was not tourism that brought
social and economic development for the population, but it was just
about meeting the tourist's demand, to show a country in a prosperous
condition, to show its churches, temples and so on. This has resulted
in a situation when the resources that are used mainly for tourism
purposes are located away from populated areas," Karapetyan said,
according to Tert.am.

He also said that a study is being conducted to find out what potential
foreign tourists would be most interested in experiencing in Armenia.

http://armenianow.com/society/65802/armenia_tourism_industry_summer

[Mher]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Armenian Trade In First Decline After 2009 Recession

Armenia -- Customs office in Bagratashen on the Armenian-Georgian border, undated

Sargis Harutyunyan
Հրապարակված է՝ 04.08.2015

Armenian foreign trade shrank by a fifth in the first half of 2015, the latest data released by the country’s National Statistical Service shows. This is the first time Armenia’s trade falls after the 2009 recession when its economy declined by more than 14 percent.

In the mentioned period Armenia’s trade with other countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, with which it formed the Eurasian Economic Union at the beginning of this year, totaled $2.186 billion, which is by 20.6 percent less than in January-June 2014.

When Armenia’s economy went into recession in 2009 the foreign trade decline in the first half of the year was 31.5 percent compared with the same period of 2008.

Moreover, the statistics also shows that for the first time since the 2009 crisis domestic trade in Armenia also fell this year.In January-June 2015, the decline was 5.1 percent compared with the same period in 2014.

The Armenian government collected by 13.5 percent less taxes (just over $1 billion) during the period under review than in the corresponding period last year. It is also the biggest decline since the 2009 crisis.

Finally, remittances wired to Armenia by individuals, which is also a crucial for the Armenian economy, showed a further decline by 28.4 percent (some $682 million) as compared with January-June 2014. This decrease is also the biggest since 2009.

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian, meanwhile, struck an optimistic note about the prospects of economic growth this year when he talked to media while visiting Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri last weekend.

Abrahamian, in particular, said that overall the economy expanded by 4.5 percent in January-June and that it showed growth in all sectors except for commodity turnover. He also stressed that Armenia’s economy was on track to expand by 4.1 percent in 2015, which is the government’s target for the year.

At the same time, the head of the Armenian government downplayed the forecasts of leading international financial institutions that predict considerably lower growth or no growth at all for the Armenian economy in 2015. Abrahamian also reiterated that Armenia’s economy will be more active in the second half of the year.

Economist Vahagn Khachatrian, who is affiliated with the opposition Armenian National Congress party, is, however, skeptical about government assurances on the economic growth prospects. He says there are a number of key indicators that show the true state of the country’s economy. The first indicator, according to him, is the decline in the collection of taxes. “Another such indicator is the real estate market, and if we summarize the data for the same first six months, we shall see that there is also a decline in the number of transactions and reduced prices in dollars by 15 percent per square meter [of property],” Khachatrian said.

“The decrease in trade, private remittances is also crucial. And all this means that Armenia’s economy is in crisis,” the pro-opposition economist concluded.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27168394.html