At Least It Won’t Get Any Worse Than This: Gagik Minasyan On Economi

AT LEAST IT WON’T GET ANY WORSE THAN THIS: GAGIK MINASYAN ON ECONOMIC CRISIS

Tert
Nov 10 2009
Armenia

The current global economic crisis is unprecedented, said the chair of
the National Assembly Standing Committee on Financial-Credit, Budgetary
and Economic Affairs, Gagik Minasyan, at a press conference today.

The economic crisis has left a serious mark on different countries and
Armenia, in Minasyan’s words, is no exception. He based his opinion
on the following: "We had predicted a 9.2% economic increase for 2009,
but we anticipate that this year will end with a 15% decline."

This, in the committee chair’s view, proves how deep and immune to
forecasts the crisis really is. Minasyan recalled various authoritative
international bodies who for the past 6 months have changed their
forecasts a few times.

"However, according to economic analysts, we find ourselves at the
base of the economic crisis; that is, any more of a decline is not
expected," believes Minasyan.

There are issues, according to Minasyan, for which there are no
answers, that interfere with making sound predictions for the coming
year. For one thing, it’s not clear for how long we will remain at
the minimum indicator level, and secondly, it’s difficult to say how
the economy will rise.

"One thing is for certain: the decline was more drastic than we
expected," concluded Minasyan.