Armenia's Economic Pulse

[Federate]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Government Approves Draft Budget For 2009

By Shakeh Avoyan

The government approved on Thursday Armenia’s draft state budget for next year that projects further sizable increases in its expenditures and tax revenues.

The bill, which could undergo minor changes before being sent to parliament next week, calls for 945.4 billion drams ($3.13 billion) in expenditures and 905.4 billion drams in revenues.

The spending target represents a 13.3 percent increase from this year’s level. By comparison, the volume of the 2008 budget is more than 40 percent higher than in 2007. The sharp rise was partly due to the fact that the government for the first time included social security taxes and subsidies to the state pension fund in the budget.

“The [2009] state budge is a combination of our desires and means,” Finance Minister Tigran Davtian said, unveiling its details after a weekly cabinet meeting. “The budget for next year envisages unprecedented spending on education, healthcare and social security.”

In order to meet the spending targets, the government needs to ensure a 20 percent rise in its tax revenues that are projected to total 725 billion drams in 2009. The cabinet of Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian launched recently a wide-ranging plan of reforms which it says will improve tax administration and reduce the huge informal sector of the Armenian economy.

Davtian said that as part of the reforms, the government will raise the salaries of tax and customs officials by more than 40 percent. It also envisages pay rises for law-enforcement officials, schoolteachers, medics and other public sector employees, he said.

The Armenian military will apparently remain the single largest recipient of public funds in 2009, with defense spending projected to grow by almost 20 percent to 149.6 billion drams ($495 million).

Davtian added that the government expects an economic growth of at least 9.2 percent in 2009. The Armenian economy is on course to expand at a double-digit rate for the seventh consecutive year in 2008.

From http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...68324C90A8.ASP

[Federate]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Armenia: Feasibility Study for New Nuclear Plant Complete - Public TV

Posted on: Saturday, 27 September 2008, 09:00 CDT

Excerpt from report by state-owned Armenian Public TV on 24 September

[Presenter] The preparatory works for building a new nuclear power plant in Armenia are on schedule. The feasibility study conducted with the help of the USAID is over and was presented to the public today. The new generation station, according to the minister of energy and natural resources, is to be of a better quality, work on less fuel but be more effective.

[Correspondent] A 30-page package is on the table of the Armenian energy specialists. The feasibility study of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant's new block is ready. The study has been conducted by the PA Consulting Group. The projected size of the station is 1,000- 1,200 Megawatts; the cost will be consistent with today's prices.

[Armen Arzumanyan, head of the PA Consulting Group, addressing the audience] Currently, [the cost] is somewhere between 5.2bn and 7.2bn dollars.

[Passage omitted: Correspondent says the construction of the plant would cost cheaper if funded by the government].

[Armen Movsisyan, the minister of energy and natural resources] We are planning to hold a tender for an international consultant by the end of the year. The consultant should be very experienced in the field and have participated in at least two such projects in the past 10 years.

[Passage omitted: Correspondent says an environmental study will be carried out as well.]

[Correspondent] The new reactor will be three times as powerful as the one currently in operation. The newly appointed US ambassador to our country, Marie Yovanovich, was also attending the meeting.

[Marie Yovanovich, addressing the audience, in English with Armenian voice-over translation] This study of the new nuclear power plant is an additional security guarantee for the Armenian people, a new possibility for an energy role in the region.

Originally published by Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan, in Armenian 1600 24 Sep 08.

From http://www.redorbit.com/news/busines...plete__public/

[Armanen]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Traffic Easing Highway Opened in Yerevan



YEREVAN (ArmRadio)--A new highway set to significantly ease traffic congestion in downtown Yerevan was opened on Monday after three years of construction

The Saralanj road, a project financed by the Lincy Foundation, connects Heratsi Street near the Medical School in downtown Yerevan to Vagharshian Street. The new highway connects to the Yeghvard highway over the Davitashen Bridge.

The road's inaugural ceremony Monday was attended by President Serzh Sarkisian, former President Robert Kocharian, Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharyan, government ministers, and other municipal authorities.

According to Zakharyan, the Saralanj Highway is one of the most important road construction projects completed since independence. It is the first highway bypassing the center of Yerevan, providing an alternative to the highly congested roads within the city.

http://www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle=35570_9/29/2008_1

[crusader1492]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Traffic Easing Highway Opened in Yerevan



YEREVAN (ArmRadio)--A new highway set to significantly ease traffic congestion in downtown Yerevan was opened on Monday after three years of construction

The Saralanj road, a project financed by the Lincy Foundation, connects Heratsi Street near the Medical School in downtown Yerevan to Vagharshian Street. The new highway connects to the Yeghvard highway over the Davitashen Bridge.

The road's inaugural ceremony Monday was attended by President Serzh Sarkisian, former President Robert Kocharian, Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharyan, government ministers, and other municipal authorities.

According to Zakharyan, the Saralanj Highway is one of the most important road construction projects completed since independence. It is the first highway bypassing the center of Yerevan, providing an alternative to the highly congested roads within the city.


http://www.asbarez.com/index.html?sh...70_9/29/2008_1

That's great news! I'm proud of our countrymen who worked so hard to get this project done...it was no small feat.

[Federate]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Armenia to increase the level of wheat self-sufficiency to 75%

Armenia plans to increase the level of wheat self-sufficiency from 43% to 75%, according to Aramais Grigorian, the Minister of Agriculture.

During following 5 years, Armenia will increase wheat production by 9.3% to 390.000 tonnes in 2012. Nagorno-Karabakh region will also provide 60.000 tonnes of wheat and the level of wheat self-sufficiency will total 79%, declared he on September 30.

In 2003-2007 period, wheat sowed areas totaled 119.100 ha, the government plans to increase the sowed areas by 10.900 ha by 2012.

From http://www.agrimarket.info/showart.php?id=64172

[Federate]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Armenia Seeks Donor Aid For War-Ravaged Border Regions

By Hovannes Shoghikian

The government will ask Western donors to provide more than $38 million for its new plan to rehabilitate Armenia’s border regions severely damaged during the war with Azerbaijan, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Gagik Yeganian, head of the State Migration Agency, said the government has drawn up a three-year program that envisages the reconstruction and repair of more than 18,000 homes and the resettlement of more than a thousand internally displaced persons (IDPs) in those areas. “This is a rather ambitious but substantiated program,” he told a news conference.

The 1991-1994 war in Nagorno-Karabakh rapidly spread to Armenia’s long border with Azerbaijan. The fighting inflicted serious damage on villages and towns on either side of the heavily militarized frontier, forcing thousands of their residents to flee their homes. Regular exchanges of automatic and sniper fire between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have kept many of them from returning home after a Russian-mediated truce halted the large-scale fighting in May 1994. Thousands of hectares of scarce agricultural land remain uncultivated in the border regions for the same reason.

According to Yeganian, more than 2,000 Armenian IDPs are now ready to return to their pre-war homes. Under the government program, each returning family would get a one-time payment, equivalent to more than $700, to buy crop seeds and farming equipment, he said.

Yeganian added that those families whose houses were completely destroyed by shelling would be paid $7,700 each to rebuild them. There are almost 1,700 such houses across the country, he said.

Yeganian said another 16,500 homes were damaged to varying degrees during the fighting. The government wants to pay their owners $1,500 each. “This will be done not only for the returnees but those who actually live there,” the official said.

Yeganian did not specify which concrete donor agency would be approached for funding. Negotiations with potential donors have yet to begin, he said.

From http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...A5F2876AC3.ASP

[meline]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse


Armenia's GDP up 10.3% in Jan-Aug


YEREVAN. Oct 1 (Interfax) - Armenia's GDP in January-August 2008
increased 10.3% year-on-year to 2.165 trillion dram (302.12 dram/$1 on
October 1, 2008), or $7.1 billion, the National Statistics Service said
in a report.
Industrial production went up 2.2% to 496.157 billion dram, gross
agricultural production - 347.38 billion dram (7.8%) and construction -
465.849 billion dram (12.8%). Individual wholesale trade went up 6.3%
year-on-year to 593.639 billion dram, services - 453.999 billion dram
(15.1%). Electricity production increased 5.1% to 4.242 billion kilowatt
hours.
Total foreign trade turnover in the eight months went up 24.8% to
999.685 billion dram ($3.309 billion). Exports went down 4.8% to 210.517
billion dram ($696.8 million) while imports rose 36% to 789.168 billion
dram ($2.612 billion).
The average monthly wage went up 21.2% to 88,983 dram ($295).

http://www.interfax.com/3/432719/news.aspx

[Federate]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

Exports went down 4.8% to 210.517
billion dram ($696.8 million) while imports rose 36% to 789.168 billion
dram ($2.612 billion).
http://www.interfax.com/3/432719/news.aspx

I think our gas dependency is what's making the import shoot up so much. But exports going down is not a good trend.

[meline]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

I think our gas dependency is what's making the import shoot up so much. But exports going down is not a good trend.

I agree with you Federate, the downward trend in exports is bad news, but don't you think that the agreed upon exportation of elecricity to Iran will help bring figures up in the coming years?

[Federate]

Re: Armenia's Economic Pulse

I agree with you Federate, the downward trend in exports is bad news, but don't you think that the agreed upon exportation of elecricity to Iran will help bring figures up in the coming years?

Yeah it should give the exports a boost although we're using this electricity export as a means to pay Iran for the gas we import from them. I am sure that we're going to buy less gas from Russia now because of our new Iranian gas so things should level out a little. But still, we're importing 400% more than we're exporting so we have a long way to go.