The topic of “construction balloon” will stay an important topic of political discussions in Armenia for a long time. The debate between Robert Kocharyan and Tigran Sargsyan does not come to an end, but instead it is becoming even more active. To note, the debate started after the Prime-Minister discussed economic issues in his New Year address and said that during the previous government there was a “construction balloon” which had to blast and result in negative consequences for the economy of the country. In fact this message was addressed to the second president Robert Kocharyan, who reacted very aggressively, and even said words that could insult the PM.
Since the economic downturn in 2008 and the fall off in gold and other commodity prices in the last two years it has become a challenge to attract investments in any business, especially in the mining sector. Mining projects require large capital investments and are often high risk, considering the market volatility and initial funding needed for exploration that does not always guarantee positive results.
According to the freshest results of the Armenian National Statistics Service the index of economic activeness of Armenia was 3.1% for January-November. But the start of the year was pretty good and in the beginning of the year the same index was 8%. The optimism of the government has decreased. This year the government planned 6,2% economic growth but the president assigned the government to reach 7%. But according to the current picture we only have 4.1%.
I strongly believe that nobody, including Russia, has or will ever stop us from fighting our own corruption problem; bringing order inside our own house is our problem, thus we should not put the blame on anybody or try to look for reasons why it does not happen. It is us that are guilty in all this. If we are not satisfied with the current social and economic situation, it is the fault of the society, political elite and our decision makers.
The Armenian energy and natural resources minister Armen Movsisyan said concerning Armenia’s debt of $155 million that the debt was accumulated since 2011. The minister’s cloudy explanation gives a clue that the price of gas was increased in 2011 but ArmRusGazArd company continued paying the old price ($180).
Business Innovation Forum was launched in Dilijan yesterday. PM Tigran Sargsyan participated in the forum, where he made a speech on the IT sector in Armenia and prospects of development.
The World Bank has published a report entitled “Republic of Armenia: Accumulation, Competition, and Connectivity.” The government of Armenia will not be happy about some definitions and interpretations in this report.
It was a routine day in 1945 when Frank McNamara, director of Hamilton Credit Corporation, after dining in a restaurant in New York found out that he had forgotten his wallet in the pocket of another jacket at home. The businessman had to call his wife to bring money. This became a reason for creating a universal payment tool for service centers.
How was the gas debt worth 300 million USD accrued? And how did 155 million USD out of that become Armenia’s debt to the Russian GazProm, in lieu of which Armenia gave in 20% of ArmRuzGasArd to Russia? Due to the answers of the minister of energy of Armenia Armen Movsisyan became the most debatable themes of the economic media.
Although the government almost daily reiterates that it’s not going to stand back from its decision to implement the new pension reform, the protests and complaints just don’t stop. But these complaints and discontent have one interesting peculiarity.
