Sunday, 9 October 2011
National Competitiveness Fund Holds Meeting
The Government hosted a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of National Competitiveness Fund of Armenia, chaired by Head the Board of Trustees, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
After discussing and approving the minutes of the last meeting, the attendees referred to the Fund’s administrative-organizational, development-related and financial reports for 2011, as well as the current international economic situation and challenges.
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan presented the tendencies of development of economy of Republic Armenia. He noted that according to statistics, our country boasted a 3.5% economic growth in annual terms against the planned 4.6%: “We find that this is a realistic target. Either the planned level of inflation – 4% within a 1.5% corridor – is a realistic target. That is we will be able to significantly reduce inflation in 2011 as compared to last year, in particular by smoothly shifting from a 10% environment toward a 5% one. We are planning 4% inflation within a 1.5% corridor for 2012.”
The head of government noted that as compared to last year, agriculture rapidly recovered, with a 21% growth stated in the same period. Industry boasted 12-14% growth, trade – 7%, the tertiary sector - 4 %.
During the first 8 months our country’s external trade turnover grew by 25%, exports – 30% and imports by 15-18%. According to Tigran Sargsyan, dram has been stable during the year.
State budget revenue target was said largely met by the government: taxes are collected with arithmetical accuracy, with some 50 billion dram savings stated on the expenditure side.
“We have been abiding by cautious budgetary policies: more funds are collected than spent. The underlying rules of conduct will be conditioned by a number of factors in 2012. Our country’s external debt stands at 40% of GDP. It was raised to comply with the budget expenditures and the GDP growth. Next year’s budget gap should not exceed 3%. It will be kept under the mark of 3% in 2013-2014. This was just the scenario we had foreseen for the GDP growth of our country, projecting a 4.2% increase in the year 2012.” According to the Prime Minister, industry, agriculture and services are due to go up next year.
For the year 2012, the government has planned several large-scale projects to provide economic growth. In this context, Tigran Sargsyan pointed out that a serious increase is stated in the IT sector to be maintained all the way through 2012. Several large-scale projects will be carried out jointly with international organizations in this area to make of Armenia a regional hub in the field of information technologies. Our country is looked upon as a regional platform since we have serious intellectual capacity.
There are hundreds of Armenian enterprises operational in the sphere of information technologies and telecommunications employing about 10 thousand staff with USD 200mn worth annual output.
Concerning reforms in Armenia, Tigran Sargsyan said Armenia’s boasts improved “Doing Business” ratings in economic freedom and information technologies. The ongoing reforms which have been described as positive by the European Union inspire hope that important progress will be recorded in 2012.
For 2012, the government has planned a substantial increase - 100 billion drams – in tax revenues to 0.6 per cent as compared to this year’s index. “This is a serious task and, therefore, we should broaden the tax base along with good administration. We are developing new bills aimed at income exposure in various areas. As a result, welfare benefits and pensions will be 10% up next year, and for the first time in our country social packages will be available for civil servants covering health insurance, mortgage interest and student tuitions.”
